Understanding importance of Calcium / Alkalinity / Magnesium for your reef tank

If you're a newer reef enthusiast or have had your tank set up for a while and never really understood the importance of proper management of calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium in your reef tank, Bulk Reef Supply has made an excellent video that makes this very understandable.  It tells why you need to keep these elements at certain values as well as recommended values.  Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI52IyBtjp0
--AJ

 

I'm dosing using BRS dosing pumps connected to my Apex. I just started this and I'm still tuning stuff in. But you can use kalk in your top off water or a kalkwasser reactor, a calcium reactor, etc. There are many ways to address this. They just differ on how much money you want to spend, how accurately you want to track things (i.e. is is important to set these levels back to recommended levels once or twice a week, or do you want them stable 24/7) and if you want this to be manual or automated. It all depends on your budget your comfort level, and the method you choose to manage your water chemistry.

--AJ