Red Sea MAX User Manual
Weekly reef care
Water quality parameters
To achieve and maintain a successful reef aquarium, you must
control the physical and chemical limits of the reef
environment. The start of this manual discussed the physical
requirements and how Red Sea MAX makes it easy for you to
maintain them.
This section covers the desired water parameters as described
in the chart below. Following the cycle period, when the
system has run for several months, many users routinely skip
ammonia and nitrite checks, but you must check the following
parameters regularly:
Nitrate levels
Check nitrate levels at least as often as you change the water.
pH and Alkalinity
Check pH and alkalinity weekly, especially if you use calcium
additives regularly. If pH drops, take corrective action by
reducing feeds, adding buffer supplements and increasing
water changes.
Salinity
Check salinity/specific gravity weekly.
These recommendations follow years of aquarist experience,
but you may get slightly different figures from other experts.
To clarify the basis for each recommendation, a brief
description of each parameter's importance follows the table.
Parameter Recommended for MAX Ocean
Salinity 35 ppt;
sg = 1.026
Variable
Temperature 24-29°C (77-84°F) for marine
24-27°C (77-80°F) for reef
Variable
pH 7.8-8.5 for marine
8.2-8.4 for reef
8.0-8.3
Alkalinity 2.5-4.5 meq./L
7-15 dKH
2.5 meq/L
7 dKH
Calcium 380-450 ppm 420 ppm
Magnesium 1250-1350 ppm 1280 ppm
Phosphate < 0.03 ppm 0.005 ppm
Ammonia < 0.1 ppm Variable (typically
< 0.1 ppm)
Nitrite < 0.2 ppm typically Variable (typically
< 0.0001 ppm)
Nitrate < 10 ppm Variable (typically
< 0.1 ppm)
Silica < 2 ppm < 0.06 – 2.7 ppm
Strontium 5-15 ppm 8 ppm
Iron 0.1-0.2 ppm 0.000006 ppm
Iodine Control not recommended 0.06 ppm total of
all forms
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