Elevated nickel reading from ICP test

bitwise · Mar 13, 2024

About 4-5 weeks ago I started to notice burnt tips on acropora, as well as general declining coral health. I ran a bunch of carbon and GFO and things appeared to stabilize for about a week, but then things took a turn for the worse again. I'm seeing bleached parts all over acros and have lost some decent pieces. I decided to get an ICP test done and found the following seemingly major concern: Nickel is at 618.802 ppb - which is over 30x the "High Limit". I've done some web searches and everything suggests to start looking for metal components leeching into the tank.

Is it pretty safe to say this is my problem and I need to find the source ASAP?

The only other red flag was Manganese at 4.324 ppb, only slightly higher than the "High Limit" of 4 ppb.

My other parameters tend to be quite stable: Salinity, Alkalinity, Calcium, Phosphate, Nitrate, and Magnesium

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 14, 2024

bitwise said:
About 4-5 weeks ago I started to notice burnt tips on acropora, as well as general declining coral health. I ran a bunch of carbon and GFO and things appeared to stabilize for about a week, but then things took a turn for the worse again. I'm seeing bleached parts all over acros and have lost some decent pieces. I decided to get an ICP test done and found the following seemingly major concern: Nickel is at 618.802 ppb - which is over 30x the "High Limit". I've done some web searches and everything suggests to start looking for metal components leeching into the tank.

Is it pretty safe to say this is my problem and I need to find the source ASAP?

The only other red flag was Manganese at 4.324 ppb, only slightly higher than the "High Limit" of 4 ppb.

My other parameters tend to be quite stable: Salinity, Alkalinity, Calcium, Phosphate, Nitrate, and Magnesium

Which company gave the results? Not all are equally reliable.

Was this your first ICP on this tank?

I do not know if the value is accurate, or if it is "the" problem, but if accurate it is certainly high enough that I'd look to lower it. A metal binder would be a good approach if you cannot find the source.