Water Parameters

[multi-task]

Okay I have been reading all over the internet and books about water parameters but I want to ask the community.
What are the most ideal sought after water parameters one can have in their reef tank?
For instance salin, nitrate, nitrites, ammonia, temperature, ph ect…
Anything else I should be testing for?
And does one always need to use supplements for a perfect reef tank set up? i.e. Kent Marine water sups like iodine, super buffer, kalwasser mix ect...?

 

[sepulatian]

Ammonia and Nitrite should always be zero. Nitrate should be under 10ppm for a reef. SG should be 1.026, temp at 79-82 degrees. Pick one and keep it there, stability is key. As for supplimets, I'll let the reef crowd handle that for you

 

[multi-task]

Anyone else? Isnt 1.026 high? I thought no higher then 1.024. Can other people chime in please? I want to know what yall are doing.

 

[lexluethar]

I go off of salinity instead of specific gravity. There is a whole debate on that one (using a refractometer can't actually test specific gravity, etc), but i aim for a salinity of 35. As sep said, AM and NI should be 0, and NA should be as close to one as possible, anything about 15 will probably kill / harm corals.
As for suppliments I don't use them. The rule of thumb is if you are going to buff certain parameters, make sure you are testing for them. Once you get into a large reef environment people usually have to buff calcium since there are so many corals using it, and other than water changes the easiest way to add calcium is by buffing.