High tin on icp

Herby’s reef · May 19, 2020

I have struggled with high tin for years on icp test. It has always been in the range of 6 to 15 via triton or ati. I have been able to keep it around 6 doing 35 plus gallons per week water changes on a 180 gallon system. Through the years I have replaced all pumps, changed the heater, removed any metal hose clamps close to the water, and changed any that remain to a stainless steel clamp, and recently changed all door hinges on cabinet. After changing the door hinges I got a triton result of 0. I was so excited and I decreased my water changes to 1 gallon per day. I just sent another ati test and tin came back at 47! My corals all look good, lots of sps and euphyllia. I did, the day before sending the test, change my frag tank on the system from a 40 breeder to a lowboy and I used all new plumbing with some pvc and some silicone tubing. That was probably not the best timing in retrospect.

Is it possible that the frag tank and plumbing increased the tin this much? Should I resume heavy water changes for now? Any ideas how I can solve this issue for good? I am going crazy trying to figure this out! Short of a new tank and sump with new rock and sand ( in case something fell in), I just don’t know what to do! I have very expensive corals and would hate to lose any of them!

Thanks in advance
David

ddc0715 · May 19, 2020

WOW I to tested high on tin so and just posted a thread about it and others so im going to follow yours. but it seems i may be dealing with tin for a long time. i hope you solve it.

first-ever , icp test results received, help needed to decode

ok, I just got back my first ever ICP test, I wanted to take a deep look at my tank (beyond the household test kit views) because this hobby is amazing. im kind confused now lol, and would like help understanding this data. so here we go. Please know that I can handle mockery, but not HARD CURE...

www.reef2reef.com

Herby’s reef · May 23, 2020

X-37B · May 23, 2020

IMO. If your tank looks good with no issues I would not worry about it.
Their are so many post about high sn that you can search for it and get many different opinions.

If you are doing water changes and the sn levels go down then its commimg from somewhere in the tank.

My 120 is 1 month away from 1 year old. I am going to send out the first ICP test on it in 1 month.
I will use it as a reference point as my tank looks good.
You will eventually have adverse issues if you keep chasing sn if your tank looks good with no issues imo.

It could be testing error!

Here is a thought I have had when reading the high sn threads as we know it can come from pvc.

Make up some new salt water and send in a sample to test .

Take a gallon of it and place some pvc pipe in it in a bucket and run a powerhead for a few weeks. Top off with fresh as sg is not that important.
Send in a sample and see if sn is elevated. If it is then you know where its comming from.

I would use fresh pvc pipe and fittings for the test.

Report back with the results.

Herby’s reef · May 23, 2020

Thanks for the advice. I agree with what you said. I am just curious first if the tin could raise that high simply because of the pvc, and second if there is a level of tin that is for sure harmful. I was hoping @Randy Holmes-Farley might have an answer. I have had issues that I attributed to high tin in the past, but now I think they were probably more due to reefing inexperience. It is also hard to say if the tank looks good don’t worry, because I don’t want the tank to look bad. If there is a for sure risk, then I would like to correct before it gets that bad. I am going to send another test in two weeks and hopefully by then the tin will be dropping if it is due to the pvc.

Thanks for the reply!

X-37B · May 23, 2020

Davenkim said:
Thanks for the advice. I agree with what you said. I am just curious first if the tin could raise that high simply because of the pvc, and second if there is a level of tin that is for sure harmful. I was hoping @Randy Holmes-Farley might have an answer. I have had issues that I attributed to high tin in the past, but now I think they were probably more due to reefing inexperience. It is also hard to say if the tank looks good don’t worry, because I don’t want the tank to look bad. If there is a for sure risk, then I would like to correct before it gets that bad. I am going to send another test in two weeks and hopefully by then the tin will be dropping if it is due to the pvc.

Thanks for the reply!

Do a search. Randy has addressed the sn question many times.
Their is no real answer.
Only real thing I have found searching is with low iron tanks like yours their is a coating of sn on the outside of the glass. If the glass is installed backwards it leaches sn into the tank when it comes im contact with salt water.
Not much you can do and my guess is it happens frome time to time.

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 23, 2020

Davenkim said:
I have struggled with high tin for years on icp test. It has always been in the range of 6 to 15 via triton or ati. I have been able to keep it around 6 doing 35 plus gallons per week water changes on a 180 gallon system. Through the years I have replaced all pumps, changed the heater, removed any metal hose clamps close to the water, and changed any that remain to a stainless steel clamp, and recently changed all door hinges on cabinet. After changing the door hinges I got a triton result of 0. I was so excited and I decreased my water changes to 1 gallon per day. I just sent another ati test and tin came back at 47! My corals all look good, lots of sps and euphyllia. I did, the day before sending the test, change my frag tank on the system from a 40 breeder to a lowboy and I used all new plumbing with some pvc and some silicone tubing. That was probably not the best timing in retrospect.

Is it possible that the frag tank and plumbing increased the tin this much? Should I resume heavy water changes for now? Any ideas how I can solve this issue for good? I am going crazy trying to figure this out! Short of a new tank and sump with new rock and sand ( in case something fell in), I just don’t know what to do! I have very expensive corals and would hate to lose any of them!

Thanks in advance
David

I'm not convinced you need to do anything about it unless there is an apparent health problem in the tank.

Herby’s reef · May 24, 2020

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I'm not convinced you need to do anything about it unless there is an apparent health problem in the tank.

Ok, thanks! I have seen so many posts on search, but I can’t come up with an answer on what is a safe level. I guess the answer must be we don’t know for sure. Thanks for the answers!

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 24, 2020

Davenkim said:
Ok, thanks! I have seen so many posts on search, but I can’t come up with an answer on what is a safe level. I guess the answer must be we don’t know for sure. Thanks for the answers!

There is no "safe' level since we cannot know the actual chemical form of the tin. But experience with lots of reports show that folks with sub 50 ppb levels are not usually reporting any apparent organism issues.