Artificial Seawater
Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 12:21 pm
So my boyfriend has a saltwater setup and was wondering what his protein skimmer was pulling out. I, intrepid Internet delver, went out to find out. My initial reaction to one of my findings was to have a small fit.
Now, mind you, it's only one study and I know that having only a single source isn't really a great way to go about things, but here:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002- ... /index.php
For this who don't want to go all the way through this page: There are much higher levels of toxic metals and trace elements in artificial salt mixes than in the ocean.
Now, regarding this, many aquariums keep their denizens for many years without ill effect, and some have managed to even successfully breed things like shrimps (which wouldn't be possible if the juveniles were sensitive enough to die in the presence of these trace elements). However, there is a pretty good point in the study: Most of the creatures that die of "shock" from improper acclimation should not be dying from a difference in salinity - the theory being that the difference in trace elements is too much to take all at once.
What does this mean for our hermies? Probably not much, but for some of the older crabs who just up and die, it may be worth considering toxic buildup in body tissues. Thing is, I really don't see any alternatives to this unless you live in a very clean beach area, in which you should probably get your saltwater from the ocean. Other oceanfront areas are very likely just as bad in pollution and such as artificial saltwater mixes are in toxic elements.
If anything, it's more reason to give them foods that aren't soaked in preservatives and away from aerosols and such. Saltwater is a constant in crabbing, and if we know that that constant may have toxins and detrimental things, then for the sake of our crabs we should keep other toxic elements as low as possible.
Now, mind you, it's only one study and I know that having only a single source isn't really a great way to go about things, but here:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002- ... /index.php
For this who don't want to go all the way through this page: There are much higher levels of toxic metals and trace elements in artificial salt mixes than in the ocean.
Now, regarding this, many aquariums keep their denizens for many years without ill effect, and some have managed to even successfully breed things like shrimps (which wouldn't be possible if the juveniles were sensitive enough to die in the presence of these trace elements). However, there is a pretty good point in the study: Most of the creatures that die of "shock" from improper acclimation should not be dying from a difference in salinity - the theory being that the difference in trace elements is too much to take all at once.
What does this mean for our hermies? Probably not much, but for some of the older crabs who just up and die, it may be worth considering toxic buildup in body tissues. Thing is, I really don't see any alternatives to this unless you live in a very clean beach area, in which you should probably get your saltwater from the ocean. Other oceanfront areas are very likely just as bad in pollution and such as artificial saltwater mixes are in toxic elements.
If anything, it's more reason to give them foods that aren't soaked in preservatives and away from aerosols and such. Saltwater is a constant in crabbing, and if we know that that constant may have toxins and detrimental things, then for the sake of our crabs we should keep other toxic elements as low as possible.