Triton labs results..... Help please

BandJ · Oct 21, 2015

Just got our results back on our tank that's has been nicknamed the death chamber........ Please help decifer these results cause I am horrid at chemistry... Any and all help is appreciated

zwulfke · Oct 21, 2015

Well you have some issues .... Do you use rodi water in your tank ? And what salt are you using

BandJ · Oct 21, 2015

Yes we use rodi and kent reef salt. We have two other tanks using same water source and salt with no issues

zwulfke · Oct 21, 2015

What is mint hat tank for rock or corals ... Do you have a pic

BandJ · Oct 21, 2015

It's our profile pic

BandJ · Oct 21, 2015

Minus the fish cause they all didn't survive....... They lasted a couple months after transferring them into it out of our stable tank..... Can post a more current pic

zwulfke · Oct 21, 2015

The only think I can think of is if the rock came from somewhere weird or maybe you have a powerhead or something with exposed metal

BandJ · Oct 21, 2015

Rocks all came from a marine aquarium specialty store....
Thanks for the help

JimWelsh · Oct 21, 2015

Your copper is higher than anybody else who has ever posted Triton results by about two orders of magnitude (about 100 times higher). That's not good. You also have elevated tin and zinc. Other people with successful tanks have had tin as high as yours, but your zinc is, again, higher than anybody else has posted by about two orders of magnitude. Your salinity is a bit low -- I calculate about 31.7 -- but that's certainly not the problem.

You need to find and eliminate the source(s) of copper and zinc.

BandJ · Oct 21, 2015

Ok thank you..... I was shocked to see that copper level cause two other copper tests did not show but a trace of copper.... Thinking I'm gonna be calling my aquarium store and pointing out these levels since every single piece came from them

BandJ · Oct 21, 2015

zwulfke said:
What is mint hat tank for rock or corals ... Do you have a pic

zwulfke · Oct 21, 2015

In my experience copper came from rock that may not be the case. I got mine 2nd hand and later found out it was in a QT tank I was not,happy

Lenny_S · Oct 21, 2015

What are those flat gray rocks in your photos?

BandJ · Oct 21, 2015

We where actually just discussing those. They where in our other tank with growth on them and transferred tanks to help cycle and establish this one. Not sure what type the are

Lenny_S · Oct 21, 2015

BandJ said:
We where actually just discussing those. They where in our other tank with growth on them and transferred tanks to help cycle and establish this one. Not sure what type the are

You actually have a few different metals showing up on your test. I'd get rid of all of those rocks. The only rock you wan in your tank is calcium based rock. Those almost look like some kind of slate or bluestone which would be riddled with metals.

BandJ · Oct 21, 2015

Ok thank you.... They will be coming out asap

Lenny_S · Oct 21, 2015

BandJ said:
Ok thank you.... They will be coming out asap

No problem. Maybe the store threw some freshwater rock into the mix for some ungodly reason, but from what I see in the picture those are definitely suspect. You may need to do a near 100% water change and run a bunch of carbon an Purigen to get it all cleaned up though. Sorry.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 22, 2015

The store (or an owner before them) may have also used the rock in a tank that was medicated with copper to treat fish.

But that does not explain the zinc.

Look carefully for any metal parts intentionally or accidentally in the system. Plumbing fittings, for example. Even the RO/DI should not have any metal fittings after the RO membrane.