Ideal Salinity

AndreT

AndreT

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thats odd - i have been told that 1023 for FOWLR but 1026 with coral. i also know that fish do better at 1023 - do not know why but this is what fellow reefers told me.

i keep mine at 1025 and all seems to be fine
 
fish do better at a slightly lower salinity, and it does lower the risk of diesiese related to fish.

i ran my tank at over 40ppt once:nono: due to an incorrect measuring instrument, and my clams, brains loved it but my softies, fish and other coral showed signs of stress. i now run it at 35ppt which is about 1.027 if im not mistaken and fish and coral all seem good with signs of growth and colour.
 
maybe we run outr tanks lower at 1.025 to suit the needs of fish and coral together. if that makes sense?
 
I'm not saying other levels aren't right. I'm just wondering what makes us think that putting fish in salt levels other than what they have been living in for hundreds of years, would make them happier.
 
I think that with the SG being dependant on temp, the variables needed to be kept constant to attain an SG of 35ppt or 1.026 must be near impossible, also add in the amount of water loss during your average day, then the SG will be all over the place, maybe aiming slightly lower is just a safeguard
 
I think (note i said i think) that fish are more stressed in our small systems compared to the big ocean - this stress causes them to pick up infections so the lower the salanity, the less likely they will pick up the infection and the better they will be able to fight it. clams are corals struggle with that lower level as they are used to the natural 1026

we should keep our salt at natural levels. also note that salinity levels differ in different parts of the world - i am not sure what they are though - i saw a table some time back but cannot seem to find it now.

i have no idea why the authors you sighted stated what they did except the above mentioned guess -maybe email them and ask
 
by the way, when i am talking about salt levels, i am talking with the universally accepted temp at 25
 
Hi Galibore - not all tropical reefs have a SG of 1.026. For example:
The SG at the Red Sea averages 36/37. Whereas the Pacific reefs are around 33/34..
I also strongly believe that the SG of the sea-water changes according to the time of the year as well (e.g. rainy season - less SG, dry season, higher SG, etc....)....
 
Wee-Man said:
I think that with the SG being dependant on temp, the variables needed to be kept constant to attain an SG of 35ppt or 1.026 must be near impossible, also add in the amount of water loss during your average day, then the SG will be all over the place, maybe aiming slightly lower is just a safeguard
Click to expand...

Although SG is dependent on temperature, the changes in temperature in our reef tanks is not enough to make any measurable difference in the value of SG.

I think it has to do with 1) having a bit lower SG is a better for fish from a disease perspective, and 2) I think most people confuse SG with density - as sea water's density is 1.023g/cm^3 at 27.8°C and 1.025g/cm^3 at 20°C in tropical reefs at a salinity of 35ppt... Hence the 1.023 - 1.024g/cm^3 range as that is the typical temperature ranges of our tanks.

SG is not the same as density - for instance, at 25C we use the figure 1.0269 g/cm^3 as the SG, and 1.0235 g/cm^3 as the density.
 
Guys, marine keeping is definitely a Dark Art.

Over the last couple of months I have seen that almost any pH, SG, Temp, Calcuim, kH and even livestock levels can be achieved with happiness.

It seems our reef creatures can handle some of the "non-prescribed levels" long as there are no huge changes to these parameters.

So, most parameters have an ideal range but not an exact number

EG: SG - 1.021 to 1.030

Everyone will find their Tank's happiness.

My tank doesn't like any SG below 1.025 or above 1.027, so that is where I keep it.
 
ok from my experience with my tank, @ 25 degrees SG 1.025, i found my SPS showing better colouration as to what it was with the SG at 1.021 and temp the same at 25 degrees.
reason why i said SPS is because they are sensitive to water parameter fluctuations
 
All of my tanks are kept at 1.026. I don't keep a lot of fish, but I do have anemones and coral (soft, LPS and SPS) in all of my tanks. I've never had a problem.
 
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