pepper89
Community Member
I live at 8,500-9,000 feet in elevation, and starting my first reef tank. I am interested in learning the nitty gritty of the oxygen-to-water chemistry that happens at these elevations, along with higher salinity. I found a website that tells me the maximum O2 level that is possible with elevation, salinity, and temp. Right now my refugium, which is cycling, I have my salinity at 1.026 gravity because I was wanting to set up a mixed reef tank, the tank temp sits mostly around 76-77F. When I look it up, that gives me a Max O2 level of 4.8282 - 4.7814 ppm possible. Now I'm not too afraid of getting the max level, as I do live in a drafty house that is on 43 acres in the deep forest and surrounded by national forest. So I'm sure plenty of oxygen can find its way into the tank to get it at least close to the max so long as I have good enough surface agitation. Though, when I look it up, it says O2 levels of 5-6 ppm are "sufficient" for most aquarium occupants.
So my first question is, would .2-.3 ppm of O2 make a huge difference in what fish or corals survive? I would have to drop my salinity to 1.021 specific gravity to get a max barely above 5 ppm but that is only at 76F, and I would like a little higher salinity than that. IDK why, but I have it determined in my head to keep my salinity to 1.025-1.026 because of the higher alkalinity and elements for a mixed reef, but I am realizing I might want to consider oxygen levels.
My second question is, does it really matter that much, as long as there is a constant exchange between water and air? I mean if the fish uses say .1 ppm per minute, and the air exchange is able to keep up and replace it at the same rate, would the fish really notice? What does the air pressure difference of elevation do to the exchange of oxygen on the surface? IDK how salinity or the air pressure of high elevations, might affect that.
I plan on kind of tracking this as I go with various tanks and seeing if I can get a concrete answer for this, but just wondering if anyone had any ideas. I won't get my Digital DO meter for another month to really know what my O2 levels are right now, but my guess is by the bubbles that have formed around the macro it is close to the max the water can hold at its current temp of 77F.
So my first question is, would .2-.3 ppm of O2 make a huge difference in what fish or corals survive? I would have to drop my salinity to 1.021 specific gravity to get a max barely above 5 ppm but that is only at 76F, and I would like a little higher salinity than that. IDK why, but I have it determined in my head to keep my salinity to 1.025-1.026 because of the higher alkalinity and elements for a mixed reef, but I am realizing I might want to consider oxygen levels.
My second question is, does it really matter that much, as long as there is a constant exchange between water and air? I mean if the fish uses say .1 ppm per minute, and the air exchange is able to keep up and replace it at the same rate, would the fish really notice? What does the air pressure difference of elevation do to the exchange of oxygen on the surface? IDK how salinity or the air pressure of high elevations, might affect that.
I plan on kind of tracking this as I go with various tanks and seeing if I can get a concrete answer for this, but just wondering if anyone had any ideas. I won't get my Digital DO meter for another month to really know what my O2 levels are right now, but my guess is by the bubbles that have formed around the macro it is close to the max the water can hold at its current temp of 77F.
