Titanium dioxide

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Cory

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Hey im geting this heavy metal remover soon from a company. Its a media made based on titanium dioxide. They said it wont change seawater chemistry but will remove metals ive attached what it removes. Also there is calcium sulphate as an impurity and I was advised to rinse really well before use. Is it safe to use this?
Screenshot_20180804-231759_Adobe Acrobat.jpg
 

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Why do you want to use it? What are you trying to remove from saltwater?
Reason i ask is if you are using a good rodi system none of those metals will be in your Rodi unless in saltmix. And if they are in saltmix then they will be in right proportion anyways.
 
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Most of the things I've run across about TiO2 and marine life are that it can be quite harmful. It's a hot topic because TiO2 nanoparticles are a very effective sunscreen.
I wondered if maybe my reading was just skewed, but most google results for TiO2 marine seem to be about tracing the hazard from bottom of the food chain up.
I suppose if you can be certain no nanoparticles are produced by your media....
im_ie_HMRG.jpg

but that image doesn't inspire confidence
 
So what would you do, use it?
 
To reduce metals and create a healthier enviroment.
 
like i mentioned on my previous post. a decent RODI system will remove everything and then when you add salt to it, it will bring all those elements you mentioned back into the water but in correct amounts needed for your reef. so i really dont see a reason to use something questionable.
 
Randy of course will have the definitive answer on TiO2, as well as if any of the chemicals listed are actually that problematic in reef aquaria. But from the sound of it, this doesn't sound like a necessary tool for us as a hobby. Even if you could test and accurately confirm that you had one or more of the contaminants this product was purported to remove (which I'm not sure is possible in seawater), I don't think that TiO2 is the best form of remediation. Not unless you have a very large tank. If you wanted to experiment with different media, I would try GAC and GFO first and then retest for the above compound (again, if that's even possible in seawater). It's worth noting that the aquarium hobby actually borrowed GFO from the wastewater treatment industry. GFO removes phosphate from the water because phosphorus is similar to arsenic. So the top two chemicals on that list can likely be remediated entirely by GFO alone.

How large is your tank again @Cory? I think I remember reading it was 20 gallons. If this is the case, I'd just do three large water changes three days in a row. For example, do a 10g water change one day, another 10g change the next, and a final 10g change on the third day. That's only a 30g change total, which can be accomplished with a single 50g bag of Instant Ocean ($13USD in the States). This will remove almost 90% of all contaminants. If you do three 12g changes, this will move almost 94% of contaminants, and obviously one 20g change will remove all contaminants.
 
Randy of course will have the definitive answer on TiO2, as well as if any of the chemicals listed are actually that problematic in reef aquaria. But from the sound of it, this doesn't sound like a necessary tool for us as a hobby. Even if you could test and accurately confirm that you had one or more of the contaminants this product was purported to remove (which I'm not sure is possible in seawater), I don't think that TiO2 is the best form of remediation. Not unless you have a very large tank. If you wanted to experiment with different media, I would try GAC and GFO first and then retest for the above compound (again, if that's even possible in seawater). It's worth noting that the aquarium hobby actually borrowed GFO from the wastewater treatment industry. GFO removes phosphate from the water because phosphorus is similar to arsenic. So the top two chemicals on that list can likely be remediated entirely by GFO alone.

How large is your tank again @Cory? I think I remember reading it was 20 gallons. If this is the case, I'd just do three large water changes three days in a row. For example, do a 10g water change one day, another 10g change the next, and a final 10g change on the third day. That's only a 30g change total, which can be accomplished with a single 50g bag of Instant Ocean ($13USD in the States). This will remove almost 90% of all contaminants. If you do three 12g changes, this will move almost 94% of contaminants, and obviously one 20g change will remove all contaminants.

That was the old tank. I have s 250 gallon saltwater pond now. I dont do water changes i just dose the chemcials i need. And remove the problrmatic ones
 
Why do you want to use it? What are you trying to remove from saltwater?
Reason i ask is if you are using a good rodi system none of those metals will be in your Rodi unless in saltmix. And if they are in saltmix then they will be in right proportion anyways.
What about removing the metals that inadvertently get into the tank, ie from rusting MP40 magnets, other rusting metals or even tin from new pipework? I know regular checking is important but by the number of posts you see on here with triton ICP’s identifying metals a lot of us do have a need to remove them. It pile be similar to metasorb.
 
easiest way to clear that problem without using a questionable item would be to run a poly filter. very cheap and readily available and made for this intent.
Everything on that list is in our saltmix. so you will also be removing elements maybe needed for our reefs.
 
easiest way to clear that problem without using a questionable item would be to run a poly filter. very cheap and readily available and made for this intent.
I didn’t think a poly filter would remove lower levels of contamination, which is why I went the metasorb route made by 2littlefishes
 
i agree poly filter or metasorb or similar product is a much better option than Titanium Dioxide. (i am not a chemist) it just seems questionable, specially it will remove elements that are added in synthetic salt mix.
 
i agree poly filter or metasorb or similar product is a much better option than Titanium Dioxide. (i am not a chemist) it just seems questionable, specially it will remove elements that are added in synthetic salt mix.
I agree, im no chemist either and I’m not sure of the impact of this either I would be interested to see Randys opinion
 
Then it will change the chemistry of seawater as seawater contains all the elements on the periodic table

That was a pretty ridiculous claim.[emoji23]
 
I’d be surprised if it does much to selectively remove metals from reef tanks. Maybe no more than other minerals we use (GFO, aragonite, etc).

FWIW, they surely didn’t evaluate it against metals bound to organics, as many are in natural seawater.
 
I’d be surprised if it does much to selectively remove metals from reef tanks. Maybe no more than other minerals we use (GFO, aragonite, etc).

FWIW, they surely didn’t evaluate it against metals bound to organics, as many are in natural seawater.

My main concern is will it drop or raise the alkalinity or change anything important to reefers like major ions. Any idea? They are sending me a 1 pound sample to test it out.
 
That was a pretty ridiculous claim.[emoji23]
Thanks for that enlightening response Randy, but I don't understand?

Solar Salt
Crystallization sequence Seawater contains nearly all elements of the periodic system in varying amounts.


The quote from the company in the op - "They said it wont change seawater chemistry but will remove metals"

Heavy metals are natural constituents of the marine and freshwater environment, generally found in very low concentrations.
 

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