Test results Normal limits Chart
- Thread starter JMcGarva
- Start date
Ron Reefman
Active member
I'd say Sk8r's numbers are a great place to be, something to shoot for. But they are by no means a 'range' or 'normal limits' that you can live with.
Example: calcium 420
That's a perfectly good number, very similar to what the ocean reefs are at. But in your tank at home, your salinity could be substantially different from that and not really be an issue for the critters in your tank. I run my calcium between 450 and 475 and have for several years without harm.
The closer to Sk8r's numbers you can get, the better off you are, the closer to a normal ocean reef you are. But in some cases having those numbers is less important than what you do to get there. Stability in your tank is as important as the raw numbers in many cases (like calcium). Your tank would be fine for months or years with calcium numbers from 375 to 500. Probably even a wider range than that, especially if you don't have stony corals. But other parameters like alk and ammonia really need to be kept in a fairly tight range. And where you want to get rid of high ammonia readings pretty quickly, you'll want to move alk numbers more slowly so as not to shock any of the critters. Unless the alk numbers are way out of line in which case you'll want to get back into an acceptable range pretty quickly.
I don't have a chart of what is OK and what's not. Sorry. And I wouldn't put my ideas on water parameters out as a guide because I don't consider myself as knowledgeable enough to say what is OK and what isn't. And some tanks with certain kinds of critters can survive some parameters that other tanks and critters can't. But doing such a chart would be an interesting exercise.
Example: calcium 420
That's a perfectly good number, very similar to what the ocean reefs are at. But in your tank at home, your salinity could be substantially different from that and not really be an issue for the critters in your tank. I run my calcium between 450 and 475 and have for several years without harm.
The closer to Sk8r's numbers you can get, the better off you are, the closer to a normal ocean reef you are. But in some cases having those numbers is less important than what you do to get there. Stability in your tank is as important as the raw numbers in many cases (like calcium). Your tank would be fine for months or years with calcium numbers from 375 to 500. Probably even a wider range than that, especially if you don't have stony corals. But other parameters like alk and ammonia really need to be kept in a fairly tight range. And where you want to get rid of high ammonia readings pretty quickly, you'll want to move alk numbers more slowly so as not to shock any of the critters. Unless the alk numbers are way out of line in which case you'll want to get back into an acceptable range pretty quickly.
I don't have a chart of what is OK and what's not. Sorry. And I wouldn't put my ideas on water parameters out as a guide because I don't consider myself as knowledgeable enough to say what is OK and what isn't. And some tanks with certain kinds of critters can survive some parameters that other tanks and critters can't. But doing such a chart would be an interesting exercise.
Mayberry
New member
Look at Tampa Bay Saltwater here: http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com/thepackage/ongoing.html
cloak
New member
CStrickland
New member
I use this http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/
