Brightwell Aquatics has a handful of new products they recently released, including SpongExcel to enhance growth of sponges and gastropods and Cuprion, an ionic copper solution. The SpongExcel may be the first true “silica” dosing product on the market aimed at the reef tank. Since sponges and gastropods enjoy a tasty silica treat, SpongExcel is an ionic silica solution so the benefits will be accessed by silica-munching organisms. Through reefing and forum lore, silica has gotten a bad rap (diatoms, bad, right?) and we do everything under the sun to make sure this chemical is not in our tank but as Christine Williams pointed out, silica dosing has been coming into its own as a viable addition to a healthy tank. Cuprion provides an ionic form of copper over the industry norm of chelated copper to give advanced aquarists the ability to administer and control the amount of copper in the aquarium. Since chelated copper releases copper ions into the water over time, the benefits of ionic copper is the immediate introduction of the copper ions in the exact dose you require allowing the treatment of your fish to begin right off the bat. As Brightwell vehemently notes, Cuprion is for advanced aquarists who understand the use of ionic copper as a treatment for fish only. As with any other copper product, do not use in tanks with plants, inverts or scaleless fish. Other recently released Brightwell products include two regenerative resins NitratR (nitrate-adsorption resin) and OrganitR (dissolved organics material-adsorption), all four should be available at your favorite online Brightwell retailer.
