It's pretty basic.
Us humans like 78 % nitrogen, 20.95 % oxygen, .93 % argon and .03 % co2. We need a half a gallon of water a day; we need a certain humidity; we need a certain amount of protein and carbohydrate...
If you vary ANY of this, like the oxygen or co2, you have some sick or dying people real fast. 3 days without water---same. Short the magnesium and your gut stops working. If you're not in great health in the first place, you get sick faster when your parameters are headed wrong. From our water and food, we get our minerals, particularly calcium, magnesium and zinc, sodium, iron, etc, and if we don't get them, everything stops working.
Marine critters come from an environment in which water contains 1.024 salt, 420 calcium at an alkalinity of 8.3 (I'm simplifying here) and a magnesium content between 1200 and 1400. THey eat protein and carbohydrate---and with every breath, they drink, and drink in their calcium, magnesium, etc, and sodium at a level that helps regulate the fluid content of their bodies in seawater.
Parameters are LIFE requirements. If yours are 'off' it's rather like ours being 'off'. You know how you feel when there's too much co2 in the air. Or when you're dehydrated. Or when your blood sugar has crashed.
So don't shrug it off and say, 'well, I'll test when I get more funds.' Or, 'they're sorta ok...I guess.' Remember---you don't like being short of oxygen or magnesium, yourself, eh?
You want a thriving tank, start yourself at 1.024 salinity (fish-only salt is around 1.019, which is ok for fish, not for other things); 8.3 alkalinity (down to 7.9 is ok, but no lower; and make 9 your ceiling); and 1350 magnesium (at that level, you should have no complaints about coralline growth: it's the fuel it needs.)
Us humans like 78 % nitrogen, 20.95 % oxygen, .93 % argon and .03 % co2. We need a half a gallon of water a day; we need a certain humidity; we need a certain amount of protein and carbohydrate...
If you vary ANY of this, like the oxygen or co2, you have some sick or dying people real fast. 3 days without water---same. Short the magnesium and your gut stops working. If you're not in great health in the first place, you get sick faster when your parameters are headed wrong. From our water and food, we get our minerals, particularly calcium, magnesium and zinc, sodium, iron, etc, and if we don't get them, everything stops working.
Marine critters come from an environment in which water contains 1.024 salt, 420 calcium at an alkalinity of 8.3 (I'm simplifying here) and a magnesium content between 1200 and 1400. THey eat protein and carbohydrate---and with every breath, they drink, and drink in their calcium, magnesium, etc, and sodium at a level that helps regulate the fluid content of their bodies in seawater.
Parameters are LIFE requirements. If yours are 'off' it's rather like ours being 'off'. You know how you feel when there's too much co2 in the air. Or when you're dehydrated. Or when your blood sugar has crashed.
So don't shrug it off and say, 'well, I'll test when I get more funds.' Or, 'they're sorta ok...I guess.' Remember---you don't like being short of oxygen or magnesium, yourself, eh?
You want a thriving tank, start yourself at 1.024 salinity (fish-only salt is around 1.019, which is ok for fish, not for other things); 8.3 alkalinity (down to 7.9 is ok, but no lower; and make 9 your ceiling); and 1350 magnesium (at that level, you should have no complaints about coralline growth: it's the fuel it needs.)
