Is rust safe in a reef tank?

nashorn · Feb 28, 2018

I was talking to someone that had a probe holder rust out.
He spoke to the company and they said it ok and not harmful.
Tank did crash but rust shouldn't be the cause.

Greenstreet.1 · Feb 28, 2018

Rust is no good for reef tanks as far as I know.

Denisk · Feb 28, 2018

I mean gfo is essentially iron/rust but it doesn’t leech anything else. You wouldn’t want something leeching rust from let’s say a steel probe holder as it may release other unwanted metals into your tank. I would say avoid it.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 28, 2018

I don't understand why you posted the poll or thread.

Do you really want to understand the issues?

nashorn · Feb 28, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I don't understand why you posted the poll or thread.

Do you really want to understand the issues? The little blue bottle comment would suggest not.

Sorry my bad
Will stay out of your forum

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 1, 2018

For this interested, the fundamental answer is that "rust" is not a pure chemical, but a mix of whatever is coming off of the metal that is corroding.

If you were rusting pure iron metal, there is almost certainly no problem in a reef tank. Many people dose iron, and many people using GFO, which is iron oxide/hydroxide.

If you were rusting a real metal alloy (e.g., some type of steel), then lots of different metals may be released and it could be an issue.

Wikipedia lists steel allow compositions here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alloy_steel

As can be seen from the list, steel alloys can contain nickel, manganese, molybdenum, chromium, copper, vanadium, etc.

Those are the ions that could be a concern from a rusting device of some sort.

So whether rust is safe depends entirely on what it is made of.

Cory · Mar 1, 2018

Rust is not safe from magnets because they have other metals in them. And those metals are usually enough to be toxic enough to kill.

For example neodymium magnets.

queball110 · Dec 4, 2023

i have a UV sterilizer and when cleaning it out the last time I noticed that the in reflector is metal and it is rusting out. So I'm about to remove that from my plumbing for all i know that maybe contributing to this nasty brown stuff on my sand and rocks that will never go away.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 5, 2023

queball110 said:
i have a UV sterilizer and when cleaning it out the last time I noticed that the in reflector is metal and it is rusting out. So I'm about to remove that from my plumbing for all i know that maybe contributing to this nasty brown stuff on my sand and rocks that will never go away.

Elevated trace elements do not typically cause pest problems because pests need the same trace elements that organisms we keep do, but removing any rusting metal part from a reef tank is a good idea due to the potential for toxicity from unknown metals being released.

Dan_P · Dec 5, 2023

nashorn said:
I was talking to someone that had a probe holder rust out.
He spoke to the company and they said it ok and not harmful.
Tank did crash but rust shouldn't be the cause.

It is not the iron oxide that is the concern but the potential release of other metals ions that might be toxic that is the concern.

Nano_Man · Dec 5, 2023

nashorn said:
Sorry my bad
Will stay out of your forum

Don't leave the thread it is a place you asked a question and members will give the correct answers on your thoughts about rust in a reef. You have a very good question. This forum is as much yours as anybody elses

jda · Dec 5, 2023

I got this out of the tank, but it did not cause any issues. Magnet on a feeding clip.

jda · Dec 5, 2023

Sometimes magnets collect junk from the tank that just appear rusty and stuff. Tunze magnets often will do this since they are so strong, but they are encased in epoxy and the brown stuff wipes right off exposing the clean epoxy again.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 5, 2023

Nman said:
Don't leave the thread it is a place you asked a question and members will give the correct answers on your thoughts about rust in a reef. You have a very good question. This forum is as much yours as anybody elses

Folks should realize this is an old thread. He has not been on reef2reef in years.

ptrick21186 · Dec 5, 2023

Harsh Thread.....

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 5, 2023

ptrick21186 said:
Harsh Thread.....

Very old too.

If it is my post you are referring to, then folks need to realize that chemistry facts are not properly answered by polling. Science is generally not resolved by voting.