Whats in NSW?

[marke]

Sounds simple but I keep searching for a good chart that shows all elements in seawater including things like trace metals ie copper, zinc, lithium etc. Its seems different source have different numbers for certain items like zinc for example. I have seen .014ppm on one chart then .005ppm on another? Does anyone have a good chart for reference? We get things like triton test results and cant seem to compare them to NSW. Also a quick education on ppm vs mg/l which I think are the same, but how about ug/l or g/l? Hard to compare numbers if not the same x/ppm. Thanks for the education.

 

[redfishbluefish]

You'll find your chart HERE....a Randy article on what seawater is all about.

 

[4FordFamily]

I'm way off base. To me it means "not safe for work"

 

[marke]

Thank you! Thats a great article. I have read it before, this time I printed it to keep by my favorite reading spot. But to continue this educational discussion. Just as a sample lets look at zinc. It say nM .05-9. Then it shows 590ng/l. Then it shows .000000003 to .00006 mg/l what does all this mean? How do I compare this to say a triton report that shows me 8.72 ug/l. We dont seem to be speaking the same language? This leads me and most people who get triton report to base things on green or yellow or red lights that triton determines might be out of their selected range? I would think comparing triton to NSW should be the first comparison. Then we can study what are acceptable ranges in my and your aquaria, but first we need to understand the numbers.

 

[143MPCo]

I'm way off base. To me it means "not safe for work"

you need more coffee!

 

[marke]

Coffee! Not Safe for Work? Im confused.........Dont you get excited by this stuff! I do! Hated chemistry in school! But if its about how my tank functions-----I get excited, and cant get enough. Keep reading you too can learn with us.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thank you! Thats a great article. I have read it before, this time I printed it to keep by my favorite reading spot. But to continue this educational discussion. Just as a sample lets look at zinc. It say nM .05-9. Then it shows 590ng/l. Then it shows .000000003 to .00006 mg/l what does all this mean? How do I compare this to say a triton report that shows me 8.72 ug/l. We dont seem to be speaking the same language? This leads me and most people who get triton report to base things on green or yellow or red lights that triton determines might be out of their selected range? I would think comparing triton to NSW should be the first comparison. Then we can study what are acceptable ranges in my and your aquaria, but first we need to understand the numbers.

Many ions vary with depth, and those show a range, with the whole ocean average given as the single number after the range.

Remember the 1 mgLl = 1000 ug/L, so 8.72 ug/L = 0.0087 mg/L.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Note also that the range is given in molar units, not weight based units like mg/L.

 

[marke]

Thank you Randy!! Check my thinking and math here......
1g/l = 1ppl?= 1000mg/l
1mg/l=1ppm=1000ug/l
1ug/l=1ppb=1000ng/l
1ng/l=1ppt=1000pg/l
1pg/l=1ppg

Next thought---comparing NSW averages to a recently posted Triton test
Triton Chart avg Diff
Li 398ug 174ug 128%
Zn 872ug 590ug 48%
Fe 3.17ug 140ng 2100%
or 3,017 ng ?
Questions
1 Is the math right?
2 Where is this significant excess over NSW coming from, this was a clean system based on po4?
3 Should we strive to reduce the input and maximize the out put of these metals?
4 Can we really test with precision for these numbers? Looks like the triton test shows zeros for many other trace metals? Is that real or testing limitations?
5 I understand a little about bioavilability, and how some of these metals bind to organics and inorganic hence some get skimmed, some become un bioavailable, and some binds to my rock and sand, which if ph drops ( acidification of oceans dropping ph studies) which could cause the release of these metals? Should I be concerned!!

Any reading and research would help.

THANKYOU! For many years of educating me and all!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The elevated lithium that many people see is not worth worrying about unless it is much higher than yours.

Triton cannot detect surface seawater levels of iron, so any detected is quite a bit. Are you dosing it? If so, I'd cut it way back.

There is no ppl or ppb. The first one is ppt, parts per thousand. Most people do not use parts per units for the last two.

FWIW, 1 ppm is 1 mg/kg which is not exactly 1 mg/L since 1 L weighs a bit more than 1 kg.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm not sure the zinc is high enough to be any issue, but if you have any metal parts that are in the water or might be above the water and corroding, you should remove them.

 

[marke]

Randy-------give me more!
You have mentioned in prior articles. We need to reduce the input of these metals, they enter our system via the food we use, the salt we mix, and the 2 part we add(some can be loaded with heavy metals). Maybe even some of the other stuff we add like trace something or fuel thinking its aminos? You have mentioned that the output of these metals from our system is important. Dr Slimak wrote a paper saying these heavy metals( in his view coming from poor salt mixes), is what causes old tank syndrome? Whats your thoughts here? Was Slimak right? I think Craig Bingman in 1999 wrote an article saying salt mixes are loaded with trace metals. Help me understand where this stuff is coming from, and how I can reduce it?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I discuss many metal sources here (not counting actual metal parts or overdosing of trace element supplements):

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/rhf/feature/