ICP test showing very high iron levels HELP

[924er]

Hello everyone! I have a 13.5 gallon evo LPS only. My corals and inhabitants are fine except for some torch corals that perked back up. I do not dose iron.

I had my first ICP test done, which is showing grossly elevated iron level of 45.00 µg/l

Here is what it says -

"""
Your Iron levels are too high.

Check for possible contamination source. To help you in finding the source of error, we have listed them the most common sources of iron (sorted in descending order of frequency):

1. Trace element overdose / contamination
2. Metals near or in the aquarium (as rusty clamps or screws)
3. Iron based Phosphate remover (too much flow in reactor)
4. Low pH in the aquarium
"""


My questions-

1) I cant find any rusty equipment but I havent taken apart my DCS pump yet. Its only 4 months old. My heater doesnt look broken. I did have a magnet cleaner but it looks fine with no rust, but I tossed it away.

2) is it possible contaminated salts can cause this high of levels? I am getting my salt from an LFS but I will switch to a more reputable LFS one next time

3) I am using phosguard but I understand its aluminum based. should I discard it?

4) finally, is there any product that can remove iron? I feel like this level is way to high and might cause my tank to crash soon if not corrected


thanks in advance!

 

[blaxsun]

1. At 4 months it's highly unlikely it's the pump - but you could always check. If there's no rust on your magnet cleaner you should fish it out of the trash (I leave mine in the tank for days on end).

2. Saltwater or salt from your LFS? If it's any of the name brand salts you should generally be fine. Would probably need a few more details here.

3. PhosGuard is fine.

4. Yes! If you get some Poly-Filter and run that in your media section it will remove iron and turn orange as this happens.

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[Roli's Reef Ranch]

If you don't have faulty equipment you have faulty water. The good news is that high Iron rarely causes serious issues in the short term. Also, keep in mind that ICP analysis is terribly inconsistent. There are EXTENSIVE threads on this. Do a big water change and hope for the best. For $7 salt your problem should be fixed instead of a $50 ICP test or a bunch of other options. Iron, Fe metal (Fe without any +), gets oxidized to Fe+++ and converted to the oxide/hydroxide according to RHF. GFO. I've heard of a variety of tanks with high Iron w/no ill effects. Just curious why you're looking to remove the contaminant from your water instead of the guarantee provided by removing the water from the tank?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I would not recommend doing anything. It may just be test error (which company?) and that level is not a concern.

Re Sea recommends dosing to more than twice your levels. While I do not recommend dosing that much, it is unlikely an issue.

 

[924er]

If you don't have faulty equipment you have faulty water. The good news is that high Iron rarely causes serious issues in the short term. Also, keep in mind that ICP analysis is terribly inconsistent. There are EXTENSIVE threads on this. Do a big water change and hope for the best. For $7 salt your problem should be fixed instead of a $50 ICP test or a bunch of other options. Iron, Fe metal (Fe without any +), gets oxidized to Fe+++ and converted to the oxide/hydroxide according to RHF. GFO. I've heard of a variety of tanks with high Iron w/no ill effects. Just curious why you're looking to remove the contaminant from your water instead of the guarantee provided by removing the water from the tank?

Thanks for your response! The reason I did an ICP test was because a about 3/4 of my torches were receding while my paramters were normal. Although I did have 0 nitrates at the time which I raised since then. The ICP test was to check for parameters I dont test for, and check for contamination and/or other reasons causing my torch corals to recede.

I definitely performed some waterchanges already, but I wanted to make sure this iron level can be removed, just in case it is somehow getting leached into the water without my knowledge. I have looked everywhere and cant find any rust. I was looking into getting a poly filter, what are your thoughts on that?

Thats reassuring that iron wont cause any ill effects. I did notice my heater to have some mild condensation inside it, so I will be replacing that as well

 

[924er]

I would not recommend doing anything. It may just be test error (which company?) and that level is not a concern.

Re Sea recommends dosing to more than twice your levels. While I do not recommend dosing that much, it is unlikely an issue.

I used Triton labs.

I did read that red sea recommends high levels of iron which is interesting.

I have done a few 15% waterchanges so far. My coral look happy now. I did lose one torch though, the rest of them recovered. I am suspecting a low nitrate of 0-1 may have starved them being that they are LPS coral.

 

[dedragon]

@Randy Holmes-Farley would cuprisorb be a good option to use if there are heavy metals in the tank? (after a second test of course sometimes test errors occur)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

@Randy Holmes-Farley would cuprisorb be a good option to use if there are heavy metals in the tank? (after a second test of course sometimes test errors occur)

It or metasorb or a polyfilter all work to remove heavy metals, and I've never seen any comparative data between them.

 

[924er]

It or metasorb or a polyfilter all work to remove heavy metals, and I've never seen any comparative data between them.

thanks for your response! I just like how poly filters change colors so im expecting it to turn yellow. The ICP test only showed elevated iron but otherwise other metals such as coppper was normal which is why i didnt go with cuprisorb

 

[Roli's Reef Ranch]

Thanks for your response! The reason I did an ICP test was because a about 3/4 of my torches were receding while my paramters were normal. Although I did have 0 nitrates at the time which I raised since then. The ICP test was to check for parameters I dont test for, and check for contamination and/or other reasons causing my torch corals to recede.

I definitely performed some waterchanges already, but I wanted to make sure this iron level can be removed, just in case it is somehow getting leached into the water without my knowledge. I have looked everywhere and cant find any rust. I was looking into getting a poly filter, what are your thoughts on that?

Thats reassuring that iron wont cause any ill effects. I did notice my heater to have some mild condensation inside it, so I will be replacing that as well

I would go with RHF's answer. You might want to run a magnet inside a plastic bag through your sand if you have any (sand). This is recommended when you set up new sand, although I forgot to do/didn't know at the time when I had sanded tanks. If there are any surprise iron fragments, this should pick them up. Just a thought. Never know what you may find, especially if you have kids!. I'm paranoid about my tanks, but that doesn't mean they aren't out to get me!

 

[mindme]

Hello everyone! I have a 13.5 gallon evo LPS only. My corals and inhabitants are fine except for some torch corals that perked back up. I do not dose iron.

I had my first ICP test done, which is showing grossly elevated iron level of 45.00 µg/l

Here is what it says -

"""
Your Iron levels are too high.

Check for possible contamination source. To help you in finding the source of error, we have listed them the most common sources of iron (sorted in descending order of frequency):

1. Trace element overdose / contamination
2. Metals near or in the aquarium (as rusty clamps or screws)
3. Iron based Phosphate remover (too much flow in reactor)
4. Low pH in the aquarium
"""


My questions-

1) I cant find any rusty equipment but I havent taken apart my DCS pump yet. Its only 4 months old. My heater doesnt look broken. I did have a magnet cleaner but it looks fine with no rust, but I tossed it away.

2) is it possible contaminated salts can cause this high of levels? I am getting my salt from an LFS but I will switch to a more reputable LFS one next time

3) I am using phosguard but I understand its aluminum based. should I discard it?

4) finally, is there any product that can remove iron? I feel like this level is way to high and might cause my tank to crash soon if not corrected


thanks in advance!

The main thing is you need to make sure you don't have something rusting. Don't look just in the tank, but also look above the tank and/or near the tank. Seems unlikely on your tank, but making sure you don't have a source that is adding it is the main thing.

Outside that, I wouldn't worry about it. I personally dose Iron daily, and it never shows up on the ICP test. If you don't see a source, my bet is a false reading on the ICP. Especially if there aren't other metals present.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

thanks for your response! I just like how poly filters change colors so im expecting it to turn yellow. The ICP test only showed elevated iron but otherwise other metals such as coppper was normal which is why i didnt go with cuprisorb

Boyd’s color comnents cannot generally be trusted as some are clearly incorrect, but if you get a color change, that might be useful in some settings.