Help Please! Tin is system

[JBs_Reef]

Hello All,

Recent ICP test shows high levels of tin. No other elevated levels so after inspection of everything in my tank I have narrowed it down to contaminated salt or the flex PVC I used (it is a new set up moved from my old house)

I am waiting on the results of an ICp test after doing water changes. I want to use something like Metasorb for some fast removal because my sps are suffering. After buying Metasorb I read it does not remove Tin.

Anyone know of a different product I can safely remove Tin from the system and has anyone dealt with elevated Tin with success?

Help Please!

 

[Flippers4pups]

Hello All,

Recent ICP test shows high levels of tin. No other elevated levels so after inspection of everything in my tank I have narrowed it down to contaminated salt or the flex PVC I used (it is a new set up moved from my old house)

I am waiting on the results of an ICp test after doing water changes. I want to use something like Metasorb for some fast removal because my sps are suffering. After buying Metasorb I read it does not remove Tin.

Anyone know of a different product I can safely remove Tin from the system and has anyone dealt with elevated Tin with success?

Help Please!

How elevated is the level? I can't think of any way to remove it other than large water changes. Let's see what others say.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

In addition to knowing what level you are experiencing, does anything seem to be suffering?

 

[JBs_Reef]

In addition to knowing what level you are experiencing, does anything seem to be suffering?

Randy thank you for the reply.

Tested with Triton ICP and it is pegged in the red 14 ug/l. (Honestly not sure the meaning of the units.)

My sps color is way off an some are not growing. They clearly seem to be suffering. Everything else is stable.

Any removal methods besides water change that I can use?

 

[JBs_Reef]

Here is my Triton results:

https://www.triton-lab.de/en/showroom/aquarium/auswertung-b/icp-oes/60692/

 

[Dkeller_nc]

It's possible that excess levels of Tin in your system is causing you problems, but I wouldn't necessarily jump to that conclusion. I've personally seen a few reef tanks that seemed to be thriving despite relatively elevated levels of Tin (at least elevated in comparison to Triton's expectations).

One thing to look at is that your phosphate level is relatively low (46 ppb). Is your nitrate also low, and do you feed your corals (coral food, amino acids, etc...)?

 

[JBs_Reef]

It's possible that excess levels of Tin in your system is causing you problems, but I wouldn't necessarily jump to that conclusion. I've personally seen a few reef tanks that seemed to be thriving despite relatively elevated levels of Tin (at least elevated in comparison to Triton's expectations).

One thing to look at is that your phosphate level is relatively low (46 ppb). Is your nitrate also low, and do you feed your corals (coral food, amino acids, etc...)?

Thanks for the suggestion. I still run fairly low nutrients compared to the latest trends. I have had years of sps success doing this. The only variable that has change is that this is a newer set up with elevated TIn.

In the transition I used all water and rock from my old system and everything transitioned without an issue. I strongly feel the issue is the Tin as I have never had high levels with my countless ICP test. I also have a VERY strict QT process and pests are not an issue. I double checked that as well.

It is pretty frustrating

 

[Dkeller_nc]

Well, you mentioned that this is a new tank. Did you keep your old lights, or go to new types/fixtures?

Anyway, from the standpoint of removing the tin, your best bet is to get rid of the source first (and the PVC spa-flex is highly suspect), and drop the concentration with water changes. There's lots of products that claim to remove metals, like chemi-pure and polyfilters. Because seawater will immediately swamp any ion-exchange surface, I'm skeptical, though it's possible that something like granular activated carbon might act to remove organic-complexed metals.

 

[JBs_Reef]

Thanks for the feedback. Just wanted to update the thread. I got my last ICP Triton test back and tin levels are cut in half from 14 to 7. I was please as colors are looking better. I plan to continue to try and water change out the remaining Tin to lower levels.

Randy (or others) I still would love to use something to help remove the tin (such as Metasorb). Is the such a product?

 

[Chris Villalobos]

Thanks for the feedback. Just wanted to update the thread. I got my last ICP Triton test back and tin levels are cut in half from 14 to 7. I was please as colors are looking better. I plan to continue to try and water change out the remaining Tin to lower levels.

Randy (or others) I still would love to use something to help remove the tin (such as Metasorb). Is the such a product?

I think the best control for Tin is water changes. Also, keep looking for the causes of Tin. You may be surprised at how small the corrosion needs to be to show up in ICP tests. Mine was the reflector in a coralife UV sterilizer. It could be a part of one of your pumps leaching into the water.

Triton makes claims that we can have a no water change system. Maybe in a perfect world where all of the additives are contaminant free and or in a system that is so large that it makes sense to take the time to manage inputs and replace hardware rather than change the water. To my dismay there is just too much possible contaminants coming into the system that just changing the water is probably the easiest way to control them.

 

[GeTanked]

I'm wondering if anyone else has had high TIN levels from salt mix. I use reef crystals, and recently sent in a test batch for both of my big reef systems and sent in my fresh salt water in one of the RO tubes. The results my by inaccurate since the standard test requires 3 vials and the RO test is only one, BUT both of my tanks show elevated Tin levels (the 250g results were 24.61 µg/l and the 125g softy tank was 60.08 µg/l). Actual RO water results showed 0 tin, but the RO test i sent saltwater mix in showed 276.6 µg/l. I think i'm gonna send a full test out with just my salt mix to verfiy.