Essential Elements

[Jeramy]

I was goign to start using Kent marine essential elements in my tank I ordered a bottle of it and when it arrived and I was looking at the label I noticed this. Second to last ingrediant is Copper EDTA. Now I thought copper wast bad for my reef and would kill my shrimp and harm my corals so why would that put copper in here?

[matty]

From what I have gathered in my reading on the subject, copper in small amounts is fine as it occurs naturally in seawater anyway. Inverts don't have a very good system of expelling heavy metals so it builds very quickly in large amounts in their bodies. This is also why they are sensitive to salinity changes. As long as you don't severely over dose the Essential elements you will be fine. Here is a breakdown of tested seawater. Copper is a ways down but is present in nature:

 

http://www.stanford.edu/group/Urchin/mineral.html

[Jeramy]

according tot he dosing on the bottle my 16oz bottle will be enough to last 5 years and I eneded up with 2 lol I am set for the next ten years =)

[Islandoftiki]

I have some food specifically for dwarf freshwater shrimp and copper is listed in the ingredients. Apparently in very small amounts, copper is necessary for their blood. Too much is toxic though.

[Burningbaal]

copper is an important element in all biology, we'd all die without it. the difference is concentration, just like everyone else has said. it's gonna be dosed at super-low concentrations if you follow the recommendation (or less, I generally assume the label way overestimates the dosing regime), preferably find something you can test for and watch it like a hawk when you start the new dosing.