The stony corals, crustaceans, mollusks, and echinoderms in our marine aquariums depend on it to build their skeletons/shells/tests. Soft corals use it to build supportive structures, called sclerites, in their tissues. Of course, without it, you’ll never get a nice patina of coralline algae on your rockwork. The “it” I’m referring to is calcium, and reefkeepers need to monitor the level of this element in their systems closely and possibly supplement it if they hope to maintain healthy invertebrates. What’s the correct calcium level? The appropriate range for calcium in a marine aquarium is somewhere between 380 and 450 ppm. But keep in mind that it’s more important to maintain a stable value somewhere within that range than to hit a specific target value. If you read my prior post on alkalinity, you understand that there’s an interdependent relationship between calcium and alkalinity More: Calcium: A Critical Element in Reef Aquariums… More:
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