Good 8gal saltwater tank parameters

Luuiss.tt · Jan 2, 2023

I have an 8 gal saltwater reef tank that has been running for about 6 months now,
I want to ensure what the appropriate water parameters for saltwater aquariums are since I would like to start adding things to in soon.

I also have a question about which saltwater test kit is the best to get.

blaxsun · Jan 3, 2023

The answer to both of your questions is "it depends". Most try to aim for alkalinity in the 8-9dKH range, calcium of 400-450ppm and magnesium of 1350-1450ppm. Nitrates and phosphates are personal preference, but 5-15ppm nitrates and 0.05-0.15ppm phosphates are typical targets.

Salifert makes good (cheap) testing kits, but Red Sea, Nyos, Aquaforest and Hanna are also good kits.

Luuiss.tt · Jan 7, 2023

blaxsun said:
The answer to both of your questions is "it depends". Most try to aim for alkalinity in the 8-9dKH range, calcium of 400-450ppm and magnesium of 1350-1450ppm. Nitrates and phosphates are personal preference, but 5-15ppm nitrates and 0.05-0.15ppm phosphates are typical targets.

Salifert makes good (cheap) testing kits, but Red Sea, Nyos, Aquaforest and Hanna are also good kits.

thank you so very much

dedragon · Jan 7, 2023

those listed are the ones I would go for as well, just stay away from api and you are good, LFS try to sell the api marine master kit (think this is what its called) all the time to beginners and its terrible.
Blaxsun got you on what I would say are great recommended levels (maybe a tad high mag but mag is prob the least important of the levels listed IMO). Red sea blue bucket, hw marin reefer, or fritz rpm I think have very similar levels to these and i usually go with higher end reef salt than IO for smaller tanks. Dont get me wrong, IO is great but you would need to adjust before water changes

bnord · Jan 7, 2023

An alternate view is for a tank that small salinity is really the most important parameter. I have a couple of larger tanks that i test multiple parameters regularly, and have a 13 gallon and do weekly water changes and have never tested anything but salinity