I put Rose Fertilizer in my Tank

Aqua SD
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ThePurple12 said:
Randy, do you know anything about rinse and reuse/replace? I'd really prefer not to buy 10 new bags of sand.
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Normally it is not difficult to remove detritus from sand, but removing metals absorbed onto them is, IMO, too hard.

I do not know if metals are a problem, or if it is readily possible to remove the fertilizer solids from the sand, but they are likely less dense and can probably be washed away. At least all but the bone chunks.
 
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Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Normally it is not difficult to remove detritus from sand, but removing metals absorbed onto them is, IMO, too hard.

I do not know if metals are a problem, or if it is readily possible to remove the fertilizer solids from the sand, but they are likely less dense and can probably be washed away. At least all but the bone chunks.
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Assuming there are metals—is it possible to remove them?
 
ThePurple12 said:
Assuming there are metals—is it possible to remove them?
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Like copper bound to the calcium carbonate surfaces?

Yes, but it is likely more trouble and bother than buying new sand. I recommend the latter if the tank shows elevated levels and they are not reasonably quickly brought down by metal binders.

I would not trash the rinsed sand unless you determine it is a metals problem.

It would take it out and keep it out for now. Be sure to keep it from becoming stagnant and producing hydrogen sulfide.

I removed some sand from my tank once (didn't wash it, but it wasn't a mess either) and put it in a bucket. Within a day it was black and stinky down in it.
 
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A few rinses of tap water until clear will clear out detritus but that is likely all it can do for you. I would just get new sand (pre rinse that stuff until clear).

edit: Final rinse with RODI incase this post comes back to bite me. I usually mention that.
 
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Fertilizer for roses?
Just in time for Valentines Day !! Never heard that one but then again- speaking with Julian Sprung, the best coral food is the poop from pelicans and sea gulls (similar to fish poop- but high nutrition content)
 
My father has a coworker who works at a lab that has an ICP analyzer. He's willing to test my water, but needs to know which elements to test for. What should I tell him? Copper and potassium, and what else?
 
ThePurple12 said:
My father has a coworker who works at a lab that has an ICP analyzer. He's willing to test my water, but needs to know which elements to test for. What should I tell him? Copper and potassium, and what else?
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Testing seawater is not always turn key. Triton had to work out a number of issues.

IMO, potassium is not likely a problem. By Flampton's calculation, it is not enough to be a problem, and ordinary water changes solve any rise.

Copper is a likely concern. Beyond that are other metals that may be present, but I can't be certain which are most likely. Zinc would be good to check.

See table 5 in this article:

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www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
 
cwerner said:

Those are ICP Tests. You take a sample of your Tank Water and RODI water and send those to a lab who run an ICP Test on it and send you the results. I've had good results from this and Triton.
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Had a bad experience with this ICP Tester. I recommend you use Triton.
 
Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Testing seawater is not always turn key. Triton had to work out a number of issues.

IMO, potassium is not likely a problem. By Flampton's calculation, it is not enough to be a problem, and ordinary water changes solve any rise.

Copper is a likely concern. Beyond that are other metals that may be present, but I can't be certain which are most likely. Zinc would be good to check.

See table 5 in this article:

Checking your browser - reCAPTCHA

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
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Very helpful, thanks.
 
AS
I thought I'd offer some insight on this. I work in the fertilizer/chemical industry in the area of compliance so I deal with labels/ingredients/SDS quite a bit. I have worked with the Jobe's company on some projects and am aware of at least one of their sources for the composted poultry manure in their products (contained within the Knock out Rose formula you dosed the tank with).

While I cannot disclose specifics I can tell you that a sample of the poultry compost base material yielded:

~30ppm Boron
~1000ppm Iron
~300ppm Manganese
~60ppm Copper
~300ppm Zinc

While we do not know the exact percentage of the composted poultry manure within the overall formula I can tell you that this material (and other similar materials) is used as a carrier for a number of granulated products from many different companies at a (very generalized) rate of anywhere from 1/3 - 2/3 of the formula.

I think you could reasonably consider that the above elements were present at approximately half that rate (or more) then multiplied by whatever volume of finished product you actually dosed, then divided by your tank volume.

The other factor is that some bone meal is fish derived (and likely wouldn't hurt anything) but that bovine derived meal may contribute further to other elements beyond the simple NPK they claim. I do not know which is used here.

The other biologicals (bacteria and myco, etc.) likely died as soon as they hit saltwater so I don't believe there would be any negative impact beyond an extremely tiny amount of biological die-off.

I believe the introduction of the above noted metals/metalloid caused the negative impact on your corals.
 
acro-ed said:
I thought I'd offer some insight on this. I work in the fertilizer/chemical industry in the area of compliance so I deal with labels/ingredients/SDS quite a bit. I have worked with the Jobe's company on some projects and am aware of at least one of their sources for the composted poultry manure in their products (contained within the Knock out Rose formula you dosed the tank with).

While I cannot disclose specifics I can tell you that a sample of the poultry compost base material yielded:

~30ppm Boron
~1000ppm Iron
~300ppm Manganese
~60ppm Copper
~300ppm Zinc

While we do not know the exact percentage of the composted poultry manure within the overall formula I can tell you that this material (and other similar materials) is used as a carrier for a number of granulated products from many different companies at a (very generalized) rate of anywhere from 1/3 - 2/3 of the formula.

I think you could reasonably consider that the above elements were present at approximately half that rate (or more) then multiplied by whatever volume of finished product you actually dosed, then divided by your tank volume.

The other factor is that some bone meal is fish derived (and likely wouldn't hurt anything) but that bovine derived meal may contribute further to other elements beyond the simple NPK they claim. I do not know which is used here.

The other biologicals (bacteria and myco, etc.) likely died as soon as they hit saltwater so I don't believe there would be any negative impact beyond an extremely tiny amount of biological die-off.

I believe the introduction of the above noted metals/metalloid caused the negative impact on your corals.
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This is perfect, thanks so much.
 
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Top Shelf Aquatics
ThePurple12 said:
What product do you all recommend for removing heavy metals? Cuprisorb? Poly Filter?
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I've never seen any comparative experiment, but the choices also include metasorb.

To some significant extent these may (or may not) all be the same (or simuilar) basic material, produced commercially by chemical companies for other industries.
 
I got the test results back. One of the things that stuck out was sulfate, at 3085 ppm. I couldn't find much on the correct level/toxicity. Zinc was 25 ppb, copper 7.9 ppb, iron 185 ppb, nickel 8.5 ppb, silicon 1969 ppb.

I'm sure these results were different before I did some major water changes. I wish I had gotten a sample from then.

What does the chemistry wizard have to say?
 
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ThePurple12 said:
I got the test results back. One of the things that stuck out was sulfate, at 3085 ppm. I couldn't find much on the correct level/toxicity. Zinc was 25 ppb, copper 7.9 ppb, iron 185 ppb, nickel 8.5 ppb, silicon 1969 ppb.

I'm sure these results were different before I did some major water changes. I wish I had gotten a sample from then.

What does the chemistry wizard have to say?
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It is unusual for sulfate to be that high without having high salinity. But sulfate is not particularly toxic, and it may reflect your salt mix.

Did they tell you anything about salinity?

The metal binders will be good to use. Might need to run them for an extended period as you may need to rip the metals off of organic and inorganic surfaces to keep the levels down long term.
 
Thanks for the info Randy,

Salinity wasn’t measured, but calibrated refractometer reads 1.026. My guess is something(s) was high before the water changes, but looks fine now.

I forgot to mention—Strontium was 10.4 ppm. Is that OK?

So my plan is to do more water changes, run Cuprisorb, and watch my corals grow! After the water changes, some are looking better already.
 
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