Ati analysis, high tin and Al

[d_adler]

After seeing some of my Sps slowly fading and losing some frags I decided to get a ati analysis.

It said I had a ridiculously high tin level and high aluminum level.

A little tank background....
tank is about 6 months old

>80 gallon deep blue with 20 gallon diy sump
>Refugium lit by h380 with marine pure balls
>Glass heater
>One month old vertex 180i skimmer
>6 month old jebao return pump
>2 mp10s for flow
>Diy aluminum screen top
>I dose kalk in my ato using rodi water
>I dose po4 and no3 daily

What would you do in my situation?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I think the biggest concern with respect to killing frags is the tin. It is hard to identify a level that is OK and a level that is not since ICP does not identify the form present, but tin is generally quite toxic and your level is high relative to many other reports I have seen, even when people think tin might be an issue. I would make sure there are no metal parts in contact with the water, and potentially look to metal export methods to reduce the tin.

Do you know exactly what the screen is made of? Any change it has tin solder in it?

Color fading in SPS might be from inadequate nutrients. I'd bring nitrate up to a few ppm and make sure there is some phospahte present.

 

[d_adler]

I think the biggest concern with respect to killing frags is the tin. It is hard to identify a level that is OK and a level that is not since ICP does not identify the form present, but tin is generally quite toxic and your level is high relative to many other reports I have seen, even when people think tin might be an issue. I would make sure there are no metal parts in contact with the water, and potentially look to metal export methods to reduce the tin.

Do you know exactly what the screen is made of? Any change it has tin solder in it?

Color fading in SPS might be from inadequate nutrients. I'd bring nitrate up to a few ppm and make sure there is some phospahte present.

Since 2 weeks ago when I sent the samples I have brought my nutrients up by dosing daily. (You helped me in a different thread I started) and done a 20 gallon water changes with Red Sea blue bucket salt.

I forgot to include I have been running a 1/4 cup of Rox carbon in the sump in a small bag. Would this help with absorbing the tin?

What would you recommend to do to export the tin? What can I use?

 

[Mike220]

My copper is 5.3
Please help,

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

5 ug/L is not necessarily a problem (I had 10 ug/L copper when I first tested it and had no apparent problem).

That said, I'd look for the source and try to reduce it (metasorb, polyfilter, cuprisorb, etc..

Any metal parts in the water?

Do you use tap water?

 

[d_adler]

5 ug/L is not necessarily a problem (I had 10 ug/L copper when I first tested it and had no apparent problem).

That said, I'd look for the source and try to reduce it (metasorb, polyfilter, cuprisorb, etc..

Any metal parts in the water?

Do you use tap water?

No i use rodi. It’s saying 6 tds so i know it’s time to change it.

I’m gonna take my sump apart and check the exotechs. One of them is like 7 years old

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Sounds like a plan. Someone else recently tested their RO/DI which was not 0 ppm TDS and it had some copper.

 

[d_adler]

Sounds like a plan. Someone else recently tested their RO/DI which was not 0 ppm TDS and it had some copper.

I was reading and considering cuprisorb which doesn’t really say anything about Binding and removing tin. It’s very nonspecific and says copper and heavy metals. Seeing as tin is my main concern would this work?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Tin is a trickier chemical as there are different forms that might be present, but it is worth a try.

 

[Mike220]

5 ug/L is not necessarily a problem (I had 10 ug/L copper when I first tested it and had no apparent problem).

That said, I'd look for the source and try to reduce it (metasorb, polyfilter, cuprisorb, etc..

Any metal parts in the water?

Do you use tap water?

I Use RO water with 2 DI on last unit

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I did too when I had 11 ppb. I never worried about it at the time, never changed anything with that in mind, and a Triton test years later detected none. No idea what the source was, or why it declined, or if it ever was a problem.

 

[d_adler]

It’s so satisfying when you finally realize what the problem is... after getting back from a vacation I decided to take my entire sump apart and sitting in my refugium tucked away in a corner was a tiny nail.. moral of the story, pay attention when working in you stand. Now I just need to figure out the best export methods. Thank you randy for the help as always

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Glad you found it! Hope you found all of them.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Any update on how things are going?