First ICP Testing Results, Would Love Feedback!

[txmaverickmh]

Dear Friends,

I have had current tank setup for about 8 months, went thru alot of ups and downs during cycle, but everything has been rocking for the past 4-5 months. All of my softies and LPS are thriving, but any time I trial any SPS, cyphastreas, chalice, favias, they do not do well at all...SPS deteriote and go white skeleton in matter of week, heartbreaking. I have auto-water change system, but do not run it constantly. 200 gallons total.

I test daily, Alkalinity was running around 8, but I have decided to slowly move to 9s.
Nitrates always around 5-10
Phosphates around .10-.13
Magnesium 1300-1400
Calcium 420-460
Ph 7.9 - 8.25 (daily swings from 8-8.2, drops when CO2 scrubber media exhausted)

I decided to get an ICP test to see what could be cause for the demise of my SPS and other hard corals, I am curious to your expert opinions please! My curiosity was if the demise of hard corals was due to water quality or lighting/flow

Key alerts: Iodine nonexistent, Aluminum HIGH. Silicon Super HIGH @Randy Holmes-Farley Thoughts on high silicon???

 

[crazyfishmom]

The high Aluminum seems to affect softies more than it does SPS and your silicates (silicon) are high. Do you use RODI water or tap? SPS did not do well in my tank when I was using tap with high silicates but I’m not sure whether that was the only problem.

Some people think that iodine is pretty important while others do not but yours is not detectable. Maybe consider dosing that?

 

[KStatefan]

Do you have diatom problems from the silicon?

any type of media material that could cause the Al?

 

[Christoph]

Hello Michael,

there is two factors that can cause problems imo:

a) The low Iodine. Limit of detection is with the OES test around 10 µg/l, so you are well below typical seawater levels. Despite the exact mechanism why iodine is important are not clear (and not proven), we do see usually very positive reactions when dosing iodine to a iodine-deficient system.

b) The high aluminium. Typical sources are Aluminium based media (like white phosphate and silicate adsorbers), ceramic media/bricks (that are used for bacteria colonization), reef cements, reef ceramics and other artificial reef structures. There is a report by Randy about negative effects of Aluminium, and we have also encountered Al related issues frequently. You should remove the source, and conduct some water changes to lower it.

The silicon is only an issue, when you are having diatom outbreaks. Source in your case is the RO water. Other typical sources are granular activated carbons.

All the best,
Christoph

 

[txmaverickmh]

The high Aluminum seems to affect softies more than it does SPS and your silicates (silicon) are high. Do you use RODI water or tap? SPS did not do well in my tank when I was using tap with high silicates but I’m not sure whether that was the only problem.

Some people think that iodine is pretty important while others do not but yours is not detectable. Maybe consider dosing that?

Good Morning, thank you for the response...I have a 6 stage RODI system that I monitor frequently...but, i think when i turned in my water samples for this test, it was reading 8tds..changed filters, now reading 0tds. I think the silicon is strange given my RODI system. I did start this tank with artificial dry rock, battled some brutal cyano and diatoms for the first 4 months, but now I have none...the only thing I get is the normal dust on the glass weekly...but no visible algae growing on rocks in system.

I have read others dosing iodine, will look into that.

 

[txmaverickmh]

Do you have diatom problems from the silicon?

any type of media material that could cause the Al?

I have zero diatom problems or any other nuisance algae in the tank.

Return flows into sump entering slots that used to be filter socks, now replaced with 4 redsea cups filled with 2 bags of carbon and 2 full of K2 Bio Filter Media. I have CO2 scrubber, skimmer, bioballs and small refugium basket.

 

[txmaverickmh]

Hello Michael,

there is two factors that can cause problems imo:

a) The low Iodine. Limit of detection is with the OES test around 10 µg/l, so you are well below typical seawater levels. Despite the exact mechanism why iodine is important are not clear (and not proven), we do see usually very positive reactions when dosing iodine to a iodine-deficient system.

b) The high aluminium. Typical sources are Aluminium based media (like white phosphate and silicate adsorbers), ceramic media/bricks (that are used for bacteria colonization), reef cements, reef ceramics and other artificial reef structures. There is a report by Randy about negative effects of Aluminium, and we have also encountered Al related issues frequently. You should remove the source, and conduct some water changes to lower it.

The silicon is only an issue, when you are having diatom outbreaks. Source in your case is the RO water. Other typical sources are granular activated carbons.

All the best,
Christoph

should i just purchase straight iodine to dose individually? Or is there some "multivitamin" like aquavitro fuel or something that has iodine plus other positive trace elements?

 

[txmaverickmh]

Hello Michael,

there is two factors that can cause problems imo:

a) The low Iodine. Limit of detection is with the OES test around 10 µg/l, so you are well below typical seawater levels. Despite the exact mechanism why iodine is important are not clear (and not proven), we do see usually very positive reactions when dosing iodine to a iodine-deficient system.

b) The high aluminium. Typical sources are Aluminium based media (like white phosphate and silicate adsorbers), ceramic media/bricks (that are used for bacteria colonization), reef cements, reef ceramics and other artificial reef structures. There is a report by Randy about negative effects of Aluminium, and we have also encountered Al related issues frequently. You should remove the source, and conduct some water changes to lower it.

The silicon is only an issue, when you are having diatom outbreaks. Source in your case is the RO water. Other typical sources are granular activated carbons.

All the best,
Christoph

Christoph,

I have these ceramic bioballs/cubes in my sump chamber, could they be the cause of the Aluminum? I was thinking of a weekend job of shop vac’ing the sump and cleaning, should I remove these, and just replace with refugium?

 

[jackson6745]

A lot of people have reported elevated Aluminum using ceramic balls + bricks.

 

[tuscani]

Thanks for posting.. I am using bioballs as well.. awaiting ICP results from ATI.. will be curious to see if any aluminum

 

[txmaverickmh]

Thanks for posting.. I am using bioballs as well.. awaiting ICP results from ATI.. will be curious to see if any aluminum

Yes, please let me know! I am planning to shop vac out sump this weekend, I am conflicted on removing or cleaning my bioballs and cubes, only going with refugium

I am getting iodide today to start dosing in tank, not sure of action I will take for high silicon levels

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I too would be concerned about that level of aluminum. I might slowly remove them.

I'd treat iodide dosing as an experiment to see if anything changed. I'd use a supplement that was only iodide.

 

[txmaverickmh]

I too would be concerned about that level of aluminum. I might slowly remove them.

I'd treat iodide dosing as an experiment to see if anything changed. I'd use a supplement that was only iodide.

Can you elaborate on slowly remove them? I am going to shop vac out my sump today for nice 10% water change, was going to remove them all, should I only remove half of them?

And thank you for following, I read a lot of your papers

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Can you elaborate on slowly remove them? I am going to shop vac out my sump today for nice 10% water change, was going to remove them all, should I only remove half of them?

And thank you for following, I read a lot of your papers

Say, one a day and track what happens to nitrate. Stop if nitrate starts to rise too much.

Be careful removing them as they may be crumbly.

 

[tuscani]

Here are my results from ATI. No concerns. I have been running ceramic media for Siz months but only these bio balls for a month