On suspicions of heavy metals in my water, I switched to Prime which can neutralize small amounts. I also added cutrisorb to my filter, to remove any further heavy metals from the tank, including any that may be leaching from the substrate.
This seemed to do the trick, as my shrimp are getting better.
I bought the substrate for this tank many years ago; it is a very glossy black sand, resembling chips of obsidian. I think it may be "Tahitian Moon Sand". Or it could be another sand called "Black Beauty" that is comonly sold in pet stores.
I found some very alarming information about the product “Black Beauty” that I thought all invert keepers should be aware of.
“Black beauty sand is actually Metallic Slag from the manufacturing
of copper. It is described as 32-45% SiO2; 25-33% Cao + Mg0; 24-35% Fe0.”
It is often marketed as “inert”, and safe for aquarium use. But logic dictates otherwise. I also found a person who tested the water that it was soaking in, and found rapidly rising levels of iron.
I don’t know if that’s what I have or not, and a search turned up zero results, so I don’t know if anybody else here is using it. It leaches iron like crazy, and could easily be contaminated with copper, or other metals used during the manufacturing process.
