carbonate hardness!

tell me what you know about this to help me understand it alot more.. what does it do and what does it need to be at in a marine coral tank?
what are most of the water parameters to look for too?
thankyou

 

I cant explain it as well as this
Carbonate hardness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Reef Aquarium Water Parameters by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

as for acceptable parameters , the reef alchemists article, is a good source IMO


Steve

 

I am assuming you are speaking specifically of alkalinity?

Alkalinity for Marine Systems

The chemistry gets pretty involved. Maintainning the ideal alk level interacts with the calcium levels and pH.

IMO it should be thought of as the building blocks for development stoney corals and growth. At certain levels it faciliates the development of corals skeletons and the coral's uptake of certain other elements that contribute to healthy growth.

The value of alk reflects the solutions ability to maintain a stable pH.

Testing for ca, pH, mg as well as the basic SG and temp should be part of maintainning a system dominated by stoney corals.

An over simplicitc view but as stated earlier it gets rather complicated when you get into the fine details.