heavy metals in water and other fun things

[gcrance]

posted on here a while back and i guess i never got the alerts or checked my thread by had a few responses and i forgot to follow up so gonna try again with some new details. so been having an uphill battle doing the reefyness thing basically can just grow kenya trees xenia and a few shrooms everything else generally dies pretty quick. lps and sps alike either polyp bail outs or stn on my lps frags i got.

so i did the Triton test to figure out if there was something in the water i couldn't test for and yep it came back with a few blips.
notably tin, aluminum and copper.

also mention that my Ca was low and my Mg was low
so i rand all my hannah checkers again today to see what was up in comparison
temp 79.2
Ph 7.8 (was up at 8.1 last week but i thinks its a lil stuffy in here) hm digi ph meter
Ar 8.6dKH hannah
PO4 .269ppm (cant keep phosphates down to save my life.) hannah
Mg 1050ppm salifert
sal 35ppt
Ca 424ppm hannah
NH3 0ppm
NO3 .05 ppm
No2 0ppm

so aside from the PO4 and the MG being out a whack it looks within reason to me
i run gfo and that has had a slow decline on the PO4 numbers and Mg im gonna bump over the next couple days. and i did the Triton detox as directed. i need to send in another sample this month so maybe we will look better on the metals who know

So just looking for some input from some other members here maybe even one of the science guys on how these numbers look to them and maybe some more input on the addition of the heavy metals.

i think the spike in Al may have come from not rinsing the gfo well enough although i seen no dust coming out anymore, but i cant put a finger on the tin and copper. checked all my equipment no signs of rust or corrosion on anything. i have a wooden stand and the screws are silicon-ed over and show no rust. the only thing i can think of is its in my rock being that i got it second hand but thats was like 2 or 3 years ago.

need a direction to go in to solve this mess. i really do want a nice tank some day and kenya trees and xenia arent gonna cut it.

im not good for those awsome photos everyone else take

 

[twilliard]

posted on here a while back and i guess i never got the alerts or checked my thread by had a few responses and i forgot to follow up so gonna try again with some new details. so been having an uphill battle doing the reefyness thing basically can just grow kenya trees xenia and a few shrooms everything else generally dies pretty quick. lps and sps alike either polyp bail outs or stn on my lps frags i got.

so i did the Triton test to figure out if there was something in the water i couldn't test for and yep it came back with a few blips.
notably tin, aluminum and copper.

also mention that my Ca was low and my Mg was low
so i rand all my hannah checkers again today to see what was up in comparison
temp 79.2
Ph 7.8 (was up at 8.1 last week but i thinks its a lil stuffy in here) hm digi ph meter
Ar 8.6dKH hannah
PO4 .269ppm (cant keep phosphates down to save my life.) hannah
Mg 1050ppm salifert
sal 35ppt
Ca 424ppm hannah
NH3 0ppm
NO3 .05 ppm
No2 0ppm

so aside from the PO4 and the MG being out a whack it looks within reason to me
i run gfo and that has had a slow decline on the PO4 numbers and Mg im gonna bump over the next couple days. and i did the Triton detox as directed. i need to send in another sample this month so maybe we will look better on the metals who know

So just looking for some input from some other members here maybe even one of the science guys on how these numbers look to them and maybe some more input on the addition of the heavy metals.

i think the spike in Al may have come from not rinsing the gfo well enough although i seen no dust coming out anymore, but i cant put a finger on the tin and copper. checked all my equipment no signs of rust or corrosion on anything. i have a wooden stand and the screws are silicon-ed over and show no rust. the only thing i can think of is its in my rock being that i got it second hand but thats was like 2 or 3 years ago.

need a direction to go in to solve this mess. i really do want a nice tank some day and kenya trees and xenia arent gonna cut it.

im not good for those awsome photos everyone else take

Are you employing the triton method?
How many macros do you have?

 

[gcrance]

Im actually waiting on my new fuge from truvu to come in. So now i do not run macros. Tried chaeto a couple times and it just fades away. Im hoping with the new fuge i will get more tumbling action but thats neither here nor there right now. So without the macros no i dont run the triton method. Outside of the fact that i dont do water changes much anymore. Allways seems to cause more problems than it solved

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Are you sure it is GFO (red/brown and not an aluminum-based binder (white)?

GFO won't boost aluminum.

 

[gcrance]

Yea its red-brown and came in a bag marked gfo. I had just run across something a while back i think on reef central where a guy had an Al spike and narrowed it down to his brand of gfo causing the prob. No idea if it was legit or not just exploring possibilities. Honestly i know im not a chemistry guy but having tin copper and aluminium in the water makes me think of something like imitation chrome. I just cant think what would have caused it

 

[gcrance]

Dont shoot me for this question but is it possible that my rodi is letting these heavy metals by? And im just adding it directly via my top off?

 

[twilliard]

Dont shoot me for this question but is it possible that my rodi is letting these heavy metals by? And im just adding it directly via my top off?

You will see a massive increase of silicon if it was the rodi

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Dont shoot me for this question but is it possible that my rodi is letting these heavy metals by? And im just adding it directly via my top off?

Not 0 ppm TDS.

Any chance any metal object is getting condensation on it that drips into the tank? Any corroded or flaking metal?

Folks have found these as sources.

No metal parts at all in the tank water?

No aluminum-containing (white)media for bacteria?

 

[gcrance]

I was running phosguard which is white and i believe aluminum based but have taken it offline for the gfo. Is it possible for heavy metals to have leached in lto the sand or rock from previous contaminets in my old tank and just coming back out?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The Phosguard may have been the source. How long ago did you use it in relation to the Triton test?

 

[twilliard]

I was running phosguard which is white and i believe aluminum based but have taken it offline for the gfo. Is it possible for heavy metals to have leached in lto the sand or rock from previous contaminets in my old tank and just coming back out?

Honestly your heavy metals don't look bad.
If there is a concern then the triton detox will do wonders but I think with your results it is un necessary.
If you would like to try the detox just let me know and I can send you mine.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

FWIW, the aluminum seems the worst, IMO.

 

[gcrance]

Ive already run the detox. Im doin the cleanup now with gac in a mr1 reactor. Supposed tobgive it 5 days rinse and repeat. Er replace and repeat as it would be

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I've heard that Triton recommends GFO to reduce aluminum. I don't know if the normal detox does.

 

[gcrance]

I was running the phos guard at the time of the last triton test beginning of last month. Had been running it for about a year prior. During that period i switched over and started running gfo. Im gonna send another sample toward the end of this month hopefully with my PO4 down a little more. So givin all of this what would be the groups professional theoretical opinion on why i cant seem to keep much in way of coral. Also have a hard time with nems. Could the hi PO4 really be that detrimental to give such a high failure rate

 

[gcrance]

@Randy Holmes-Farley . Triton's error correction sheet is pretty basic. For most things it recommended running detox followed by carbon and a couple mild water changes using their pure salt. Which admittedly after talking to them at macna didnt seem to be a big deal. Its just stripped down of most trace elements to help soak some back up from the water colum or at least not introduce more to an already flawed system

 

[Reduck]

I'd bet it was the phosguard. If you just took it out prior to taking your sample, that would explain the high aluminum. I just received similar Al results on my test. Triton recommends monthly switching between gfo and phosguard, or their Al99 product, which is also aluminum based.

Sadly I don't have a better answer for you. Your local tests all seem acceptable.
I'd give your tank a few weeks on gfo and a few wc before sampling for another triton test.

Good luck!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

FWIW, a water change with any salt mix will drop those values about the same since no commercial salt mix that I've seen has Triton detectable levels of aluminum, tin, or copper.

Switching to the GFO may help both the phosphate and the aluminum.

Aside from things you are already thinking about, I don't see a chemical problem.

 

[gcrance]

well thats good to hear. i spend a lot of time chasing numbers but have tried to maintain stability as much as possible in that quest. the recently acquired dosing pump has made life much eaiser. were getting ready to start a second tank for my g/f devoid of my hands and see how she fairs with it. so we will see how that goes. im really starting to think maybe i may need to try a reboot on the tank so to speak. and start with fresh rock and sand and let it re cycle with the fish and coral i have in my frag tanks for a few months

 

[Mattrg02]

Crap. I just noticed my kessil gooseneck mount tank clamp has been getting splashed regularly when my vortech gets going hard. I don't know what kind of metal they use, but could that have contained my tank? It looks like black anodized aluminum.

What are they effects of heavy metal contamination?