Why does brine shrimp contain aluminum?

Miami Reef · Feb 9, 2025

I read an Aluminum article by Randy, and had a question about this:

Clearly, if aluminum is of primary concern, brine shrimp (highlighted in red) should probably not be on the menu.

If you fed 5 grams of it to a 100 gallon tank every day, that would amount to 5 g x 120 mg/kg = 0.6 mg/day or 219 mg/year. Added to that 100 gallons (379 L), that gives an addition of 219 mg/378 L/y = 0.6 ppm per year. The other listed foods would, of course, contribute much less. Unfortunately, these sorts of raw measures of aluminum say nothing about what form it is in. For example, it might be present as soluble aluminum, or as insoluble (particulate) forms.

Food Calories/gram Total Aluminum (ppm) Aluminum (mg/kcalorie)
Formula One 0.8 15 19
Formula Two 0.8 15 19
Prime Reef 0.8 11 14
Lancefish 0.9 9.8 11
Brine Shrimp 0.3 120 400
Plankton 0.7 8.1 12
Gold Flakes 4.2 80 19
Tahitian Blend 2.4 14 6
Saltwater Staple 3.6 95 26
Nori 3.6 83 23
Golden Pearls 3.9 49 13

Chemistry And The Aquarium: Aluminum In The Reef Aquarium

In this article I will give some details of aluminum in natural seawater, and will discuss the sparse literature on the toxicity of aluminum ions to marine organisms.

reefs.com

Why would Brine Shrimp contain so much aluminum?