Chromium in RODI?

dankaqua · Feb 17, 2020

ChadmRoman said:
Chasing high chromium for the last three ICP Triton Tests.

Is the chromium in your water related to the Sacramento Delta aqueduct system (ala PG&E and Hinkley)?

ChadmRoman · Feb 18, 2020

Going to talk to life aqu

dankaqua said:
Is the chromium in your water related to the Sacramento Delta aqueduct system (ala PG&E and Hinkley)?

Not sure, the Chromium in the source water (testing from tap) is equal to what Sacramento water district reports. Was getting 3-4 ppb over multiple tests.

EWG's Tap Water Database: What's in Your Drinking Water?

Look up your local water system to find out which pollutants might be of concern, and find suggestions on the best kinds of home filters to remove those chemicals.

www.ewg.org

What I did find however was the pressure of the RODI. When not using the recommended pressure of 65 PSI, the DI was "adding" chromium back into the water. Life Aquatics is working with their DI vendor to reproduce this. Once I hear from them I will post an update.

Thub · Feb 18, 2020

Chromium makes up a minimum of 10% of stainless steel. If some stainless steel part is wearing in the booster pump, it might not show up at lower pressure, where the pump runs less (or not at all).
It might also be coming from a valve that's worn out.

Maokin · May 14, 2020

What was the end outcome here? My chromium continues to climb with my last few Icp tests. Up to 6ug/l on the Triton Icp results. Someone suggested my frozen food could be the source. I have a 7 stage rodi from brs that is just over a year old and probably only has 200-300 gallons on the system. Also my source water is only 25 tds. Supply water report has 5.1ppb chromium.

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 16, 2020

Maokin said:
What was the end outcome here? My chromium continues to climb with my last few Icp tests. Up to 6ug/l on the Triton Icp results. Someone suggested my frozen food could be the source. I have a 7 stage rodi from brs that is just over a year old and probably only has 200-300 gallons on the system. Also my source water is only 25 tds. Supply water report has 5.1ppb chromium.

I don't see how the RO/DI water could be a substantial source, assuming it is functioning.

Can you list all the additives you use, besides foods?

Maokin · May 17, 2020

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I don't see how the RO/DI water could be a substantial source, assuming it is functioning.

Can you list all the additives you use, besides foods?

Triton core7 3ml per day increasing to 6ml soon. 20 drops daily of brightwell aminos and 1 drop weekly brightwell lugols iodine. That is it. I did use cheatogrow for like 4 weeks but that was probably 3 months ago now. Also used vibrant around 4-5 months ago. I do Daily 3% water changes with neptune dos. I stopped the daily changes for like a months but I am back to them now. I gravel vac as needed normally ever 4-8 weeks. Normally a 10-20% water change at that time too. Tropic Marine Pro salt mixed at around 80 degrees for 24 hours before use.

I occasionally dose reef roids as target feeding with their polyp booster for 15 minutes before the target feeding. Also weekly broadcast feed 2 scoops of reef chili.

Maokin · Jun 4, 2020

Maokin said:
Triton core7 3ml per day increasing to 6ml soon. 20 drops daily of brightwell aminos and 1 drop weekly brightwell lugols iodine. That is it. I did use cheatogrow for like 4 weeks but that was probably 3 months ago now. Also used vibrant around 4-5 months ago. I do Daily 3% water changes with neptune dos. I stopped the daily changes for like a months but I am back to them now. I gravel vac as needed normally ever 4-8 weeks. Normally a 10-20% water change at that time too. Tropic Marine Pro salt mixed at around 80 degrees for 24 hours before use.

I occasionally dose reef roids as target feeding with their polyp booster for 15 minutes before the target feeding. Also weekly broadcast feed 2 scoops of reef chili.

@Randy Holmes-Farley any comments based on the details above? I think I am going to pick up a Hanna Chromium test kit as well. I haven't tried rods food yet my local LFS doesn't carry it and overnighting frozen food is expensive.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 4, 2020

The Hanna kit will be a waste of time (at least if it is the one I linked below). Even if it works in seawater, and even if you have Chromium IV (there are other forms of chromium), the smallest nonzero increment on the kit (200 ppb) is more than way higher than your reported level of 6 ppb.

Chromium VI Chemical Test Kit

The HI3846 is a chemical test kit for the determination of chromium VI using the diphenylcarbohydrazide method to determine a concentration between 0 to 1.0 mg/L colorimetrically.

www.hannainst.com

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 4, 2020

Unless Brightwell messed up their product using impure metals, I suspect a metal part somewhere is more likely than an additive.

Maokin · Jun 4, 2020

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
The Hanna kit will be a waste of time (at least if it is the one I linked below). Even if it works in seawater, and even if you have Chromium IV (there are other forms of chromium), the smallest nonzero increment on the kit (200 ppb) is more than way higher than your reported level of 6 ppb.

Chromium VI Chemical Test Kit

The HI3846 is a chemical test kit for the determination of chromium VI using the diphenylcarbohydrazide method to determine a concentration between 0 to 1.0 mg/L colorimetrically.

www.hannainst.com

The tester I purchased was https://www.hannainst.com/hi749-chromium-lr.html not the simple test kit. The color meter has a 0-200 ppb range. Even still i get your point regarding other forums of chromium. I can probably cancel the order at this point only placed it a few hours ago. What are the changes I have other forums of chromium besides IV?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 5, 2020

Maokin said:
The tester I purchased was https://www.hannainst.com/hi749-chromium-lr.html not the simple test kit. The color meter has a 0-200 ppb range. Even still i get your point regarding other forums of chromium. I can probably cancel the order at this point only placed it a few hours ago. What are the changes I have other forums of chromium besides IV?

There are two main forms in normal seawater, and the Cr(VI) which the checker detects is the dominant one.

Maokin · Jun 8, 2020

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Unless Brightwell messed up their product using impure metals, I suspect a metal part somewhere is more likely than an additive.

My tank is relatively young and just had it first birthday in mid may. All my equipment was purchase new and what most would consider good quality, Kessil lights, Nyos Skimmer, MP40s and Varios DC return pump. I have complete drained the sump 3-4 times over that year, planning to do it again in a few days. I have also cleaned and completely dissembled every pump every few weeks/months with no signs of rust. I keep running Triton ICP every month which is expensive at $50 per test. Seems the Chromium color meter I ordered is on back order anyway so they canceled my order. At around $65 for the color meter it seemed to be solution for me to quickly get to the bottom of the source. I figured I could even strain my defrosted frozen food and test the chromium there as well as RODI and freshly mixed saltwater without spending a fortune on Triton ICP tests.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 8, 2020

Maokin said:
My tank is relatively young and just had it first birthday in mid may. All my equipment was purchase new and what most would consider good quality, Kessil lights, Nyos Skimmer, MP40s and Varios DC return pump. I have complete drained the sump 3-4 times over that year, planning to do it again in a few days. I have also cleaned and completely dissembled every pump every few weeks/months with no signs of rust. I keep running Triton ICP every month which is expensive at $50 per test. Seems the Chromium color meter I ordered is on back order anyway so they canceled my order. At around $65 for the color meter it seemed to be solution for me to quickly get to the bottom of the source. I figured I could even strain my defrosted frozen food and test the chromium there as well as RODI and freshly mixed saltwater without spending a fortune on Triton ICP tests.

Do you have reason to think it is causing issues in the tank?

Maokin · Jun 8, 2020

At this time now. I'm treating it like a warning sign that I could get diabetes in the future. I'd rather be proactive and eliminate The Unwanted elements before they become a problem.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 8, 2020

Maokin said:
At this time now. I'm treating it like a warning sign that I could get diabetes in the future. I'd rather be proactive and eliminate The Unwanted elements before they become a problem.

OK, but don't go crazy solving something that may not be a problem.

Maokin · Jun 9, 2020

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
OK, but don't go crazy solving something that may not be a problem.

Thanks for the tip. I plan to avoid chasing numbers for sure. I stopped my auto water changes for a while and noticed a spike in Chromium. Been doing them again now for around a month plus I plan to add mechanical filtration. Perhaps with both of those changes Chromium will continue to drop closer to ideal levels.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 9, 2020

Maokin said:
Thanks for the tip. I plan to avoid chasing numbers for sure. I stopped my auto water changes for a while and noticed a spike in Chromium. Been doing them again now for around a month plus I plan to add mechanical filtration. Perhaps with both of those changes Chromium will continue to drop closer to ideal levels.

Sounds good.

Good luck.