Help. High Nickel Triton test

ReefKeeperMark · Dec 19, 2014

Hi guys
Back story.
I have a 725litre system with a 2in sand bed in the display and a 6in dsb in the sump. At the end of 2013 I had a Sequence pump running a closed loop system, the pump started to become loud so sent it off for repair. I was told some parts had become very rusty which they repaired. over this period every time I added new corals within 24hrs they would die. after some months of this I sent a test to Triton to find some surprising results.
I took all live rock out of my tank to find several pieces stained in rust and made a pvc pipe structure with fibreglass and resin. I then set about doing 10% water changes daily for 2 weeks, after which everything was running fine. until last month, corals started to die back again.
Sent another test to Triton which came back with surprising results again.

1st Result
Zinc 10.05
Lithium 360
Nickel 6.35
Tin 14.96

2nd test result
Zinc 0.80
Lithium 295.90
Nickel 9.12
Tin 3.40

Has anybody any idea where the nickel is coming from?
Thanks
Mark

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 19, 2014

Any stainless steel parts in the water?

ReefKeeperMark · Dec 19, 2014

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Any stainless steel parts in the water?

No, none in the water.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 19, 2014

Are you using RO/DI?

Any metal above the water that might drip or release "rust"?

frag! · Dec 19, 2014

I would take a close look around your liverock, underneath for anything that may have been dropped inside the tank. Maybe the pump you are using for your closed loop is coming into contact with the water somehow. I know my old hammerhead started leaking around the bearings when it finally went.

ReefKeeperMark · Dec 19, 2014

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Are you using RO/DI?

Any metal above the water that might drip or release "rust"?

No none. aand the ro/di container is closed off.
I'm wondering if its leeching out from the sand bed from my previous problems?

ReefKeeperMark · Dec 19, 2014

frag! said:
I would take a close look around your liverock, underneath for anything that may have been dropped inside the tank. Maybe the pump you are using for your closed loop is coming into contact with the water somehow. I know my old hammerhead started leaking around the bearings when it finally went.

Closed loop now gone. no metal parts in contact with water and I have a floating reef so anything that falls in is very easily retrieved and seen.

TheClark · Dec 19, 2014

ReefKeeperMark said:
No none. aand the ro/di container is closed off.
I'm wondering if its leeching out from the sand bed from my previous problems?

I don't know chemically speaking if that is possible, but I had high tin and similar thoughts. As a result, have been removing the sand bed slowly. The coral is definitely improving. After a few more water changes, plan on sending results back to triton. All the cautions apply removing the sand bed but so far I am not missing it and it seems to be having a positive impact on algae as well.