alk vs salinity?

[146clark]

Has anyone ran a successful sps dominate reef while keeping a salinity of 1.023? The reason I ask is because I'm running a zeo system and not a fan of the rbs so I use h20cean at a salinity of 1.023 which gives me my parameters to the one needed for zeo. My tank is running with just the basic zeo system and has livestock no corals. I read most acro can dwell in a salinity of 1.023-1.026. But before adding sps just wanted to here what other think or have done. Thx in advance

[Aquattro]

which parameters exactly is this giving you?

[reefwars]

Don't use salinity to keep track of parameters , if you must use a different salt or do other things to get your parameters where you want them.

[Aquattro]

Don't use salinity to keep track of parameters , if you must use a different salt or do other things to get your parameters where you want them.

Agreed, but I still want to know what the target "zeo" parameters are. I can't come up with any argument to deviate from 1.026 ever, so let's start this from the beginning :)

[146clark]

Zeo parameters are dkh of 6.5 to 7.5
Cal between 400-450
Mag between 1250-1350
Potassium 380-400

H2ocean covers all aspects except when mixed at 1.025-1.026 the dkh is 8.3-9

[Aquattro]

FWIW, I ran zeo with an alk of 9 for years. I use IO and it mixes high. I would stay with 1.026 if it were my tank.

[146clark]

My parameters are stabile for the last 3 months at
Dkh 7.2-7.5
Cal 400
Mag 1280
PO4 0.01
Salinity 1.023-1.024
Temp 78-79
Orp 400-430
Nitrate 0

[146clark]

Zeovit says a dkh of 6.5-7.5 because you want as close to nsw as possible. It is also stated that a higher dkh could potentially cause unwanted rtn, stn. Personally I've seen people run 6.5 and have beautify sps reefs while others run 12 dkh ( non zeo)and are just as nice. I have run systems at 9 dkh aswell and worked great just wondering about salinity in the 1.023-1.024 range for coral health really. I believe that as long as the alk cal mag and other crucial parameters are in line thing should go as norm? I was under the impression that lower salinity would also alow for more o2 saturation in the water column but could be wrong.

[Aquattro]

Not sure I'd even consider O2 values, if it made any difference, it would be miniscule. I can't see why a lower salinity wouldn't work if all the other values are where you want, but again, I run alk high and it never bothered me. Not sure anyone with a "successful" SPS reef has ever done this on purpose :) I'm sure some have, and I'd guess it could work. I dunno :)

[reefwars]

if you want to drop alk in salt mix its quite easy to do before even adding it to your system , again using the salinity values to monitor parameters like cal and alk is going to be impossible to do as every bucket of salt is different then the one before slightly and some drastically ;)

you have to realize that salt alone almost always never keep alk and cal in check for mature tanks unless the tank is tiny and changes are large , in a heavily stocked hard coral tank with lots of coraline youll have to do about %50 per day to keep levels stable....thats not really a good way of doing it unless money is no object lol even then the jumps are not healthy either.


if you don't have corals im not sure why your worried about rtn on acros?


are you going ULNS?

[146clark]

I'm not worried about rtn or stn at this moment as this system has no corals. As for cal and alk ect those will not be supplied by water changes I will dose with an automated system as all my systems are. The only question is the salinity for an sps dominate ok at 1.023-1.024? Has anyone done this with any luck? Or does everyone just run 1.025-1.026 because that's what the salt manufacturers give there parameter quotes at

[Aquattro]

Salt manufacturers recommend crap all over the map. The water on reefs is 1.026 which is why we use that value. I still don't quite grasp why you're insisting in using less? If you have to maintain everything else via dosing, what is the value?

[146clark]

There is no value just curiousity. I appreciate everyone's comments

[Aquattro]

Well, for curiosity's sake, I suppose you probably could keep a reef at 1.023. I'm sure there are enough refractometers out there that are out that much :) I ran a reef at 1.031 for almost a year, nothing died lol

[146clark]

The reason for using it at lower salinity is because right now with the salt I use I get the dkh level I want. If mixed to 1.026 it's at a value I don't want.

[Aquattro]

Well, as Denny explained, I wouldn't use salinity as a means to control alk. Use a different salt if it's that important. RBS is low, and other than costing more, nothing wrong with it. You don't NEED alk to be low just to run zeo, running it a bit higher is fine.
But, your whole tank will be at whatever level you set the alk. Say 7. If you then do a 20% water change with IO at 8.5, the net result will be pretty darn close to 7 and will balance out quickly with the system.

But, you do seem insistent on running low salt, so given that, I don't think anything terrible will happen. Just not something I would personally do.