Bio brick/aluminum/chloride

[Reef Mafia]

Anyone had any issues with aluminum being too high? If so, how did your corals react to it? I just got back my icp test and it shows high aluminum +31 and I’ve searched everywhere for anything rust but found nothing! Some people say bio bricks are known for causing this high levels! Just removed it and it crumbled on me.


Another thing I’ve found in the icp test is high chloride +248.6 NEVER SEEN IT THAT HIGH

my first post btw

 

[blaxsun]

Could be from the bio bricks if they're deteriorating, yes (this only seems to be with certain types, though).

 

[Reef Mafia]

Could be from the bio bricks if they're deteriorating, yes (this only seems to be with certain types, though).

Do you know of a particular one that doesn’t do this? My tank is sand less so I basically use it for biological filtration

 

[blaxsun]

Do you know of a particular one that doesn’t do this? My tank is sand less so I basically use it for biological filtration

I don't. I saw an image the other day where someone posted a bunch of grey powder that came out of their bio pellets when they drilled to expand the holes in them.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Chloride is the most abundant ion in seawater and should be around 19,000 ppm. 248 ppm is not accurate. If it is anything close to 19,000 ppm, it is fine.

 

[Reef Mafia]

Chloride us the most abundant ion in seawater and should be around 19,000 ppm. 248 ppm is not accurate.

+248.6 means past the recommended levels
19543 + 248.6 according to icp

 

[Reef Mafia]

+248.6 means past the recommended levels
19543 + 248.6 according to icp

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

+248.6 means past the recommended levels
19543 + 248.6 according to icp

That's perfectly fine. Don’t let icp companies make you think everything needs to be exactly what they claim.

 

[Reef Mafia]

That's perfectly fine. Don’t let icp companies make you think everything needs to be exactly what they claim.

Ok… what about aluminum?

 

[Indymann99]

Whats the Aluminum baseline?

 

[Reef Mafia]

Whats the Aluminum baseline?

I’m at 46.84 and icp recommends 0.10 so I am +46.74

 

[Reef Mafia]

Maybe nothing to worry about but I would like to know if anybody has experience this and what have they found!

 

[Hats_]

I dont know about aluminium, i have it in my tank in far greater quantities as you currently have and it hasnt caused anything bad yet...

 

[DHollis26]

Aluminum in my tank is 118. It was as high as 175 in January. Can't find the source, but not noticing any obvious issues. If anyone has any input i'd be grateful as well!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

There’s a lot of uncertainty in the toxicity of many elements detected by icp since that tool says nothing about the chemical form.

In general, I’d try to keep aluminum down to levels below 50 ppb, and I’d probably do something if it got over 100 ppb.

I used no aluminum compounds and my value was only 1.6 ppb.

 

[newreef1]

Could be from the bio bricks if they're deteriorating, yes (this only seems to be with certain types, though).

Marine pure blocks? I saw about them but not about their biospheres. Do you use that company? I got the genesis rocks you recommended, they’re definitely more better built. Was thinking about brightwell aquatics brick, do you use them?

 

[blaxsun]

Marine pure blocks? I saw about them but not about their biospheres. Do you use that company? I got the genesis rocks you recommended, they’re definitely more better built. Was thinking about brightwell aquatics brick, do you use them?

Yes, I have some 4x8x8 bricks from Marine Pure (and the do chip easily). Not brightwell, but I do have the new Polyp Lab ones.

 

[newreef1]

Yes, I have some 4x8x8 bricks from Marine Pure (and the do chip easily). Not brightwell, but I do have the new Polyp Lab ones.

I guess I’ll just keep my marine pure brick since I just have 1 and I’ll add the brightwell brick along side it. I already have 2 boxes of the spheres, 1 Maine pure brick, 6 genesis rocks and now the brightwell brick. I didn’t see the mp reduce nitrates so thinking I need more. I don’t think more biomedia is bad, what do you think?

 

[homer1475]

Do you have rock in the display or sump?

None of that junk is even needed(even without sand) if you have enough rock.

 

[blaxsun]

I guess I’ll just keep my marine pure brick since I just have 1 and I’ll add the brightwell brick along side it. I already have 2 boxes of the spheres, 1 Maine pure brick, 6 genesis rocks and now the brightwell brick. I didn’t see the mp reduce nitrates so thinking I need more. I don’t think more biomedia is bad, what do you think?

I removed a bunch of my bio media (2 boxes of the 1.5" spheres) as I just didn't have the space and it was ending up as a detritus trap. According to the specs, just two (2) of the Polyp Lab 'squares' are sufficient for my tank - and I put eight (8) of them in, so...