Reef Aquarium Water Parameters

[SAT]

Good job Randy! :beer:

 

[3_high_low]

I agree. Top notch!:thumbsup:

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks.

 

[tdog44632]

I have to say single best summation of water parameters! This should be made into a pamphlet and placed at every LFS, but it would cut down on additive sales. It is very nice to have someone make recommendations and then support and stamd by them. Nice article.

Tony

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks a lot Tony.

Happy Reefing.

 

[TLowe]

Excellent work, Randy. You have done the hobby a great service in synthesizing and summarizing much of the recent literature and addressing many of the (seemingly endless!) ongoing debates. Although I think the jury is still out on additions of silicate, iron, and iodide to a captive system, I am becoming more convinced each year that the best way to handle these -- and other -- hypothesized micronutrient deficiencies is by regular water changes. In my own system I have rigged up an automatic water changer that exchanges 1 quart of water each day and that in combination with regular feedings and a calcium reactor has -- so far -- worked well.

Thanks again for the fine work.

Tim

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks

Happy Reefing.

 

[GeorgeMonnatJr]

I know this thread is dated, but I'm hoping people still look at it.

Dr. Holmes-Farley,

I've been learning about reef tanks similar to drinking from a fire hose, but my progress has been greatly improved by your excellent articles (btw, I'd gladly pay for a printed compilation). Your article that is the subject of this thread, Reef Aquarium Water Parameters, is excellent but has a few errors in the current Firefox and MS Explorer versions.

The formulas have a question mark or empty box for the "yields" symbol.

Here's a screen shot of what I see.

I believe that those equations should have the bi-directional equilibrium arrows, is that true?

My fundamental issue is that my 125gal tank isn't fully cycled, yet. I've been adding kalkwasser, and the calcium levels are at the high end of your recommended range (about 480ppm, probably since coralline algae is the only demand) but alkalinity is at the low end (2.7 meq/L). My pH is very low around 7.6.

Since kalkwasser should raise all three, I'm guessing that I have high ammonia which is driving down pH which is driving down alkalinity (but not affecting calcium). Your articles mention, "an exact mathematical relationship between pH and carbonate alkalinity for any aqueous system in equilibrium with the atmosphere," so I'm thinking that's the answer. I'm just mildly confused by the ambiguous formulas (due to browser error).

Thank you for all of the excellent articles. They are doing a great job of minimizing my questions.