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FAQ & Compendium Water Parameters Within Reef Aquariums (FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions)

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FAQ & Compendium Water Parameters Within Reef Aquariums (FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions) FAQ & compendium Water parameters within reef aquariums (FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions) Tanks with tropical seawater fish, corals, anemones and other invertebrates are fascinating people worldwide. Anybody undertaking this hobby with enthusiasm will sooner or later also have to touch on the complex topic of water parameters. The target of this FAQ is to combine and publish all relevant information in an easy and understandable way, but still with a high level of detail. A clear arrangement of the topics will help you finding the things of interest to you. This FAQ was brought to you by Martin Kuhn (GER) and Gary Chapbell (UK) Visit our homepage for more FAQs/compendiums and AquaCalculator … the reference software tool for enthusiastic reefers. Last Updated: 2018-05-14 page 1 Content PART 1 – Water values, test kits and measuring processes ............................................................................................... 5 1.1) Which water parameters are worth measuring in my reef tank and how often should I measure them? 5 1.2) Which water parameters are less important? ............................................................................................. 6 1.3) Which are the optimal water parameters? .................................................................................................. 6 1.4) Which test kits should I buy? ....................................................................................................................... 8 1.5) What can I do to be sure to measure correctly? .......................................................................................... 9 1.6) Which methods that measure my tank’s salt concentration are available? .............................................. 10 1.7 What are the differences between the tools for measuring salt concentration? ...................................... 11 1.8 How can I know if my spindle/hydrometer is displaying “density” or “relative density/specific gravity“? 12 1.9 Which tool should I trust most? .................................................................................................................. 12 1.10) Can I use tap water for my reef tank? Does a water purification unit make sense? ........................... 15 1.11) Tips for measuring your water parameters accurately ............................................................................ 19 1.12) Tips for measuring with syringes, cuvettes and hydrometers ................................................................. 20 1.14 Which test kits or tools should I buy? ....................................................................................................... 24 PART 2 – Important processes in reef tanks ..................................................................................................................... 25 2.1 Current flow................................................................................................................................................. 25 2.2 The circle of nitrogens ................................................................................................................................. 28 CHAPTER 3 – Which effects are caused by the single water parameters? What happens if parameters are off the optimal values? ..................................................................................................................................................................... 35 3.1) Alkalinity/carbonate hardness .................................................................................................................. 35 3.2 Calcium? ...................................................................................................................................................... 35 3.3) Iodine ......................................................................................................................................................... 35 3.4) Potassium .................................................................................................................................................. 36 3.5) Magnesium ................................................................................................................................................ 36 3.6) pH-Value .................................................................................................................................................... 36 3.7) Phosphate .................................................................................................................................................. 36 3.8) Salt concentration ..................................................................................................................................... 37 3.9) Strontium ................................................................................................................................................... 37 3.10) Temperature ............................................................................................................................................ 37 3.11) Ammonia ................................................................................................................................................. 38 3.12) Nitrite ....................................................................................................................................................... 39 3.13) Nitrate ...................................................................................................................................................... 39 3.14) Silicates ..................................................................................................................................................... 39 CHAPTER 4 – Possibilties for adapting water parameters ............................................................................................. 40 4.0) Miscellaneous ............................................................................................................................................. 40 4.1) Alkalinity ..................................................................................................................................................... 40 4.2) Ammonia/Ammonium ............................................................................................................................... 40 4.3) Calcium ....................................................................................................................................................... 41 4.4) Iodine.......................................................................................................................................................... 41 4.5) Magnesium ................................................................................................................................................. 42 page 2 4.6) Nitrite ......................................................................................................................................................... 42 4.7) Nitrate ........................................................................................................................................................ 43 4.8) pH-value ..................................................................................................................................................... 44 4.9) Phosphate .................................................................................................................................................. 45 4.10) Salt concentration/Salinity ....................................................................................................................... 46 4.11) Silicate ...................................................................................................................................................... 46 4.12) Water changes: The all-in-one solution? ................................................................................................. 47 4.13) Which salt mixture is best for my tank? ................................................................................................... 50 4.14) Sea-salt mixture data for nearly all available salt mixtures (my privately measured results) ................. 52 4.15) Adaptations within the natural proportion of calcium vs alkalinity (Four-zone system) ........................ 54 CHAPTER 5 – Adapting your water parameters in real life (Ca, alkalinity and Mg) ................................................. 58 5.1) How should I add chemicals to my tank? ................................................................................................... 58 5.2 How to calculate a specific dosage? ............................................................................................................ 59 5.3 Mixing liquid solutions for Ca/Alk/Mg......................................................................................................... 61 5.4 Which amounts of chemicals can be soluted in water? .............................................................................. 62 5.5) The Balling method .................................................................................................................................... 63 5.6) Balling recipe for a stoichiometric-balanced adaptation of Ca-concentration and alkalinity ................... 64 5.7) Adaptation of Ca-concentration only ........................................................................................................
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