[tray262]

I was just doing some research and I've found out that Seachem Salt has .0003 of Copper in it!!!!! From what I've read this is not good. Any advice ? I've been using this salt for a couple of months now. Or is this such a low level that's it's not a concern ? please advise.

[Ninong]

Two questions:

(1) What is your unit of measurement?

(2) Where did you get your information?

[tray262]

looks like ppm Seachem Salt Mixes

[Ninong]

Natural seawater concentration of copper is 0.000254 ppm (Pilson, 1998). That's an average. The range is 0.0001 to 0.003 ppm (0.1 to 3 ppb). Obviously the areas with the higher copper readings are affected by industrial pollution.

The chart you linked to on the Drs. Foster & Smith website is information that was provided by the manufacturer. I, for one, do not believe the 0.0003 ppm (0.300 ppb) Cu. I suspect that the true figure is several times higher than that. I have seen various independent studies published online over the past seven years and their results for copper varied widely. All of those studies were done using ICP/MS but the published results varied significantly. One author claimed all of the salts tested were below his detection limit of 3 ppb but a more recent study published in a different online hobby magazine claimed results ranging from 4 to 12 ppb, with most salts running around 5 to 6 ppb.

You might ask SeaChem why their Boron concentration is four times NSW concentration and much higher than any other salt mix on the market. The answer is that they add extra boron to raise borate alkalinity. No other salt manufacturer does that.

[tray262]

So what I've gathered from this, is that all Salt mix, has some copper in it, and it's not a huge deal, but SeaChem uses 4X the amount of Boron. which is bad ? What salts do you recommend ?

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by tray262

So what I've gathered from this, is that all Salt mix, has some copper in it, and it's not a huge deal, but SeaChem uses 4X the amount of Boron. which is bad ? What salts do you recommend ?

It appears that virtually all salt mixes have much higher metals concentrations than NSW. If this is true, and I believe it is, then it's a matter of choosing the salt mix that will do the least harm. On the other hand, perhaps some people have access to filtered natural seawater that has not been contaminated? Even this gets tricky because a lot of the natural seawater that is available is collected not that far offshore from the coast of heavily industrialized areas. It's not likely that anyone is going to be able to collect their natural seawater from the Great Barrier Reef.

I don't agree with adding extra boron and obviously none of the other manufacturers agree with that idea either.

I don't make any recommendations on salt mixes. I have personal opinions but those opinions have changed over the past few years and are subject to change again as more information becomes available. I have used only one salt mix and I was completely satisfied with it.

I prefer not to recommend any salt mixes. This is something that each hobbyist should research for himself.

Suggested reading: Sea Salts, Part One and Sea Salts, Part Two.



P.S. -- The 1999 salt mix study published by Dr. Craig Bingman is really out of date at this point in that virtually all of the salt mixes he tested have been changed since then, some of them several times.

[tray262]

Great info, I'll take a read tonight.

Thanks Ninong.