How effective is rowaphos at removing aluminium?

[MERKEY]

At a year old I'd say your tank and rock is old enough to handle the removal of the blocks and still have enough good bacteria to handle it.

If you have sand then absolutely as that holds a lot as well.

 

[MERKEY]

If it is a lot of Marin blocks you could remove 3rds at a time or half.

If your feeling uncomfortable removing it all.

 

[Ollie05H]

At a year old I'd say your tank and rock is old enough to handle the removal of the blocks and still have enough good bacteria to handle it.

If you have sand then absolutely as that holds a lot as well.

I do have sand. There are quite a lot of them, I think I bought the big box which at the time almost filled my return chamber. (I have since moved them into bags in another chamber)

 

[Ollie05H]

If it is a lot of Marin blocks you could remove 3rds at a time or half.

If your feeling uncomfortable removing it all.

I also have a frag tank with no rock in, just loads of marine pure balls but I haven’t done an icp on that tank yet. Assuming it’s going to have high Al too but won’t have any media at all if I remove them.

 

[MERKEY]

I also have a frag tank with no rock in, just loads of marine pure balls but I haven’t done an icp on that tank yet. Assuming it’s going to have high Al too but won’t have any media at all if I remove them.

It's weird, some won't leech....

I'd be interested in seeing the results of this tank.

 

[Ollie05H]

It's weird, some won't leech....

I'd be interested in seeing the results of this tank.

we have tried to minimise the agitation with them in hope it doesn’t release as much. We probably should do an icp on that tank soon. It’s been running about 5 months.

 

[AstroMelly]

Hi

I've possibly got the same issue. I just got my first ATI ICP test results and am showing Aluminium - we have also had problems with my euphyllia receding and dying. We have lost a wall type frogspawn and a 5 head green hammer as well as a 3 head torch. We still have 1 multi head torch and a wall hammer going strong. My test came back with High Calcium (445ppm - recommended 405 ppm - not worried about that), low Iodine (12 v 62), Manganese (0 v 0.96) and Zinc (0 v 1.92). But Al was 58 micro grams per litre (recommended zero). We are also using MarinePure bio media which is my main reason for posting - I have a huge 8"x8"x4" brick and a 8"x8"x1" plate as well as a Brightwell Aquatics Xport NO3 Brick Aquarium Nitrate Removal Filter Media (which is crumbling!).

No idea ceramic media could leach Aluminium and I am just posting here for moral support - how did you get on with you issues?

It's a shame as I really like the idea of compact and well shaped bio media - it was not cheap either!

My RO test was green across the board so the aluminium is only in the main tank.

 

[Ollie05H]

Hi

I've possibly got the same issue. I just got my first ATI ICP test results and am showing Aluminium - we have also had problems with my euphyllia receding and dying. We have lost a wall type frogspawn and a 5 head green hammer as well as a 3 head torch. We still have 1 multi head torch and a wall hammer going strong. My test came back with High Calcium (445ppm - recommended 405 ppm - not worried about that), low Iodine (12 v 62), Manganese (0 v 0.96) and Zinc (0 v 1.92). But Al was 58 micro grams per litre (recommended zero). We are also using MarinePure bio media which is my main reason for posting - I have a huge 8"x8"x4" brick and a 8"x8"x1" plate as well as a Brightwell Aquatics Xport NO3 Brick Aquarium Nitrate Removal Filter Media (which is crumbling!).

No idea ceramic media could leach Aluminium and I am just posting here for moral support - how did you get on with you issues?

It's a shame as I really like the idea of compact and well shaped bio media - it was not cheap either!

My RO test was green across the board so the aluminium is only in the main tank.

I ended up replacing the marinepure with maxspect bio spheres, used some rowaphos and did weekly water changes of ~20% for a few weeks which brought it down from 137.85ug/l to 88.77ug/l and then 26.23ug/l a month after that. I ended up losing all my euphyllia apart from 3 which I moved over to my other tank quick enough.

I readded those a week or so ago and they are looking okay. Got an icp coming in the post so will inform next week what the result is.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hi

I've possibly got the same issue. I just got my first ATI ICP test results and am showing Aluminium - we have also had problems with my euphyllia receding and dying. We have lost a wall type frogspawn and a 5 head green hammer as well as a 3 head torch. We still have 1 multi head torch and a wall hammer going strong. My test came back with High Calcium (445ppm - recommended 405 ppm - not worried about that), low Iodine (12 v 62), Manganese (0 v 0.96) and Zinc (0 v 1.92). But Al was 58 micro grams per litre (recommended zero). We are also using MarinePure bio media which is my main reason for posting - I have a huge 8"x8"x4" brick and a 8"x8"x1" plate as well as a Brightwell Aquatics Xport NO3 Brick Aquarium Nitrate Removal Filter Media (which is crumbling!).

No idea ceramic media could leach Aluminium and I am just posting here for moral support - how did you get on with you issues?

It's a shame as I really like the idea of compact and well shaped bio media - it was not cheap either!

My RO test was green across the board so the aluminium is only in the main tank.

I don’t think that level of aluminum is enough to cause problems, typically.

 

[Ollie05H]

I don’t think that level of aluminum is enough to cause problems, typically.

I agree, I wouldn’t have thought it’s that harmful at that level. But it does seem to build up over time so I suggest removing / replacing the media. Maxspect doesn’t seem to be leaching anything so far.

I think the mistake I made, and possibly @AstroMelly has done, was putting way too much marine pure in for my tank size.
If I only put in the suggested amount, only a little bit would leach out and not cause any problems.

 

[ocncheffy]

I had this exact same issue with two brightwell bricks and a bunch of marine pure spheres in my sump. Aluminum levels were over 150, and I had LPS receding and dying. Upon removing all my media, which actually had no impact on my nitrates/phosphates, the levels are now around 70 and dropping. LPS all look more puffy than ever as well.

If I were you, I'd remove it all and toss it. Waste of money as it's not cheap, but it's cheaper than some nice LPS pieces...

 

[HBtank]

If the aluminum is present as colloidal (very small) particulates, none of the usual media will likely bind it. Free aluminum ions or aluminum ions bound to organics may bind to some media.

Would a calcium carbonate flocculant remove it?

 

[AstroMelly]

I don’t think that level of aluminum is enough to cause problems, typically.

Thanks for that @Randy Holmes-Farley.

I just got my Triton ICP result last night - this was taken at exactly the same time as my first one - which was ATI.

Triton reported 14 ug/l of Aluminium so I guess I am now in the situation where I do not know which results I can actually trust.

I also tested the exact same water from the display at the same time with all the tests I currently own (apart from Ammonia and Nitrite) - my results are here:

Salinity: 1.025 (read as 1.0248 - refractometer)
Alkalinity: 8.5 dKh (Salifert)
Calcium: 440 ppm (Salifert)
Magnesium: 1320 ppm (Salifert)
Nitrate: 5 ppm (Salifert)
pH: 8.4 (Salifert)
Phosphate: 0.1 (RedSea)

I also own an eXact iDip 570 Marine photometric tester but I have found it to be so inaccurate that I no longer bother to use it - if anyone would like to make me an offer...

I share the ICP test results here - I have yet to dig through in detail for other discrepancies but I am a bit disappointed to see what seems like quite a large difference in at least one parameter. Just did a quick scan and although most readings seem to agree Iodine is also quite different (ATI - 12.88 ug/l and Triton - 47 ug/l).

What do I do with these results - the whole idea was to choose one of the two to go with for future ICP tests so which one do I go with?

 

[Reef.]

Makes me wonder how many reefers get bit by collodial particles as they get by tds meters.

What do you mean by people getting bit by tds meters?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Would a calcium carbonate flocculant remove it?

You mean actual calcium carbonate? It may remove some dissolved aluminum but I doubt it will remove any particulate alumina.

 

[HBtank]

You mean actual calcium carbonate? It may remove some dissolved aluminum but I doubt it will remove any particulate alumina.

As a “coral snow” flocculant, since it can bind and assist in removing very fine particulates by filtration, but I know it is typically for organics.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

As a “coral snow” flocculant, since it can bind and assist in removing very fine particulates by filtration, but I know it is typically for organics.

Again, if you mean calcium carbonate, the answer is what I stated above.

If it is something else (like Tropic Marin Reef Snow), which claims to be an algal polymer (maybe alginate), then it may or may not impact dissolved aluminum, but may.