[Flying_Hellfish]

Originally Posted by IAIN -Y-

Hellfish, I would certainly never consider Wikipedia to have accurate results as even the likes of me (newbie) can edit what is written on there.

Maybe this may help?

http://www.northcoastmarines.com/refract.htm

I'm not saying it is always accurate, but considering I figured 35ppt (1.0264 SG) to be 3.5% and it said the same, I presumed it to be so.

Does this make you feel a little better about it?

The salinity of seawater is usually 35 parts per thousand (also written as o/oo) in most marine areas. This salinity measurement is a total of all the salts that are dissolved in the water. Although 35 parts per thousand is not very concentrated (the same as 3.5 parts per hundred, o/o, or percent) the water in the oceans tastes very salty. The interesting thing about this dissolved salt is that it is always made up of the same types of salts and they are always in the same proportion to each other (even if the salinity is different than average). The majority of the salt is the same as table salt (sodium chloride) but there are other salts as well. The table below shows these proportions:

via http://www.marinebio.net/marinescien...omposition.htm

I don't know the actual conversion for other SG but I believe most are keeping their reef tanks around 1.026 so 3.5% would be a good # to shoot for.