jrpark22000
Premium member
A good multi-part series on many factors of water chemistry presented in an easy to follow video series.
[video=youtube;GR8cWdW_IXI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR8cWdW_IXI[/video]
Calcium and Alkalinity are vitally important chemical parameters in reef aquariums. They are especially important in reefs with abundant populations of stony reef-building corals.
Calcium is one of the major ions in saltwater. It is the 5th most common ion in saltwater behind, chloride, sodium, sulfate, and magnesium. In most healthy reefs, the calcium level hovers around 425 ppm. Alkalinity is a little more difficult to explain than calcium. It is not a particular ion, but rather the buffering capacity of saltwater.
[video=youtube;zlB93PAD-jQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlB93PAD-jQ[/video]
So what are trace elements exactly and what role do they play in our reefs? Saltwater with a specific gravity of 1.025 is made up 96.5% of water and “sea salts” that make up the remaining 3.5%. That 3.5% salt is made up of major elements and trace elements. The major elements are sodium, chloride, sulfate, magnesium, potassium, and calcium. What is left is a whopping 0.7% of that 3.5% fraction are the trace elements. There are around 70 different trace elements and they all fit into that 0.7%. The 14 most abundant are:
Chromium
Cobalt
Copper
Fluorine
Iodine
Iron
Manganese
Molybdenum
Nickel
Phosphorous
Selenium
Tin
Vanadium
Zinc
[video=youtube;GR8cWdW_IXI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR8cWdW_IXI[/video]
Calcium and Alkalinity are vitally important chemical parameters in reef aquariums. They are especially important in reefs with abundant populations of stony reef-building corals.
Calcium is one of the major ions in saltwater. It is the 5th most common ion in saltwater behind, chloride, sodium, sulfate, and magnesium. In most healthy reefs, the calcium level hovers around 425 ppm. Alkalinity is a little more difficult to explain than calcium. It is not a particular ion, but rather the buffering capacity of saltwater.
[video=youtube;zlB93PAD-jQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlB93PAD-jQ[/video]
So what are trace elements exactly and what role do they play in our reefs? Saltwater with a specific gravity of 1.025 is made up 96.5% of water and “sea salts” that make up the remaining 3.5%. That 3.5% salt is made up of major elements and trace elements. The major elements are sodium, chloride, sulfate, magnesium, potassium, and calcium. What is left is a whopping 0.7% of that 3.5% fraction are the trace elements. There are around 70 different trace elements and they all fit into that 0.7%. The 14 most abundant are:
Chromium
Cobalt
Copper
Fluorine
Iodine
Iron
Manganese
Molybdenum
Nickel
Phosphorous
Selenium
Tin
Vanadium
Zinc