salt question

[skippy823]

right now i have my salt level at 26 27 one person tells me thats to high another says thats good any advice here

[chaffey]

I think they both okay, if you only have fish only, keep the salt level low, if you have fish/corals then you want to be a little on the high side, 25-27 range are fine.

[skippy823]

sounds likw what my friend says and his corals and fish look awesome thanks

[Mavrk]

One of the reasons for different opinions comes from the fact that specific gravity changes based on temperature. Natural sea water is 35 PPT. Here are some numbers (if I remember correctly) to show what I mean:

At 60 degrees F, 35 ppt = 1.026 S.G.

At 70 degrees F, 35 ppt = 1.025 S.G.

At 80 degrees F, 35 ppt = 1.023 S.G.

Now, different devices will be calibrated to different temperatures. I use a refractometer that I calibrated at 80 degrees F. So when I look at it, I just look for 35 PPT. If I look at the corresponding SG, it actually reads 1.026. So I don't even use that side because the conversion was done based on a temp different from what I am using. You need to know to which temperature your device is calibrated.

Now to complicate things, some will argue that fish should have lower salinity than corals. I say, what is good enough for nature is good enough for my tank. So I use 35 PPT.

[skippy823]

i didnt relize temp could play that big a role thank you very much

[romunov]

Check www.reefkeeping.com for articles on salinity. A good read!