Are both sides of the Osmolator 3155 magnets able to be submerged

trmiv · Jun 17, 2019

i have a Red Sea reefer 350 and I’m looking to scrap the stock top off and go with an outside reservoir with an Osmolator 3155. Unfortunately with how tight the sump area is there is nowhere for the outside magnet to go outside the sump. I would be able to place the outside magnet in the input area which is directly next to the return area, but the outside magnet would be constantly submerged. Is it safe for the outside magnet to be submerged?

Mhart032 · Jun 17, 2019

With that sump you can use a epoxy coated piece of metal plate on the outside. it will work. but i dont think the outside magnet is submersible.

Leyth · Jun 17, 2019

I have a 350 and I am running a tunze ATO on it. I pushed the sump all the way to the right and there was room on the left side for the magnet.

JoshH · Jun 17, 2019

I've had mine submerged for almost 3 years wih 0 issues, I had the same question but if you look at the magnets for the float switch and the optical sensors, the external ones are the exact same as the mount magnet for the float switch and are coated in epoxy.

rvitko · Jun 18, 2019

All of our magnets are submersible, inside and outside are both waterproofed.

crushedacro · Jun 22, 2019

@rvitko just double checking.. I have both mine submerged. Trying to hunt down a tin contamination.. My "external" side magnet on my 3155 has no coating that I can tell (just bare magnet vs the sensor side which has a epoxy coating) but isn't degrading in any way so I assume it's safe?

rvitko · Jun 23, 2019

Yes, that is a slightly older one, those magnets are ceramic (ferrite) the same material most impellers are made from, the only draw back is iron particles and GFO will stick in the crevices, but the ceramic magnets themselves cannot rust. Tin would usually be from PVC, their was a write up on this a couple years ago in Coral, Tin is used as an elastomer in PVC, Butyl Stannous, this is a key reason to use the far more expensive silicon tubing, but it is unknown what the danger zone of Tin is and personally I don't worry about it, every hobbyist I have ever met who does an ICP has some undesirable metal level and yet, no ill effects. It seems soft PVC is the main contributor.

crushedacro · Aug 8, 2019

rvitko said:
Yes, that is a slightly older one, those magnets are ceramic (ferrite) the same material most impellers are made from, the only draw back is iron particles and GFO will stick in the crevices, but the ceramic magnets themselves cannot rust. Tin would usually be from PVC, their was a write up on this a couple years ago in Coral, Tin is used as an elastomer in PVC, Butyl Stannous, this is a key reason to use the far more expensive silicon tubing, but it is unknown what the danger zone of Tin is and personally I don't worry about it, every hobbyist I have ever met who does an ICP has some undesirable metal level and yet, no ill effects. It seems soft PVC is the main contributor.

hmm, well my corals in that tank are dying. I haven't added anything to that tank except for corals and everything was thriving prior. I just got another icp test and tin has risen from 23ug/l to 38 with a setpoint of .1 and now am getting high cobalt of 2.22ug/l with a setpoint of .1ug/l. I have checked everything that has metal of any sort, found 1 rusted bolt and nut above the water for the light stand that was it. I changed a ton of water over a few weeks before the new test. I had my other tank tested same time as the 1st test with tin and that tank came up clear so it not coming from my source water...I'm baffled, really thought it was that bolt and nut...

Breadman03 · Aug 8, 2019

"I changed a ton of water before the new test."

Given that you seem to have checked the system for rusting metals and still had a notable increase, I'd suggest checking out your RODI system. An ATI ICP includes vials for both tank water and RODI, if you'd like to send it for ICP testing.

crushedacro · Aug 9, 2019

Breadman03 said:
"I changed a ton of water before the new test."

Given that you seem to have checked the system for rusting metals and still had a notable increase, I'd suggest checking out your RODI system. An ATI ICP includes vials for both tank water and RODI, if you'd like to send it for ICP testing.

Yes sir as I stated in my last post I tested 2 systems at the same time test before last test, 1 had tin and other was clear. 2 tests prior I also had an ATI test which showed a perfectly running ro/di system. I happened to change all filters and membranes a few weeks ago as per regular maintenance.

rvitko · Aug 9, 2019

Tin is commonly from PVC, the softening agent in PVC pipes and tubing is stannous butyl, Coral magazine had a write up about this a few years ago and the benefit of silicon tubing is avoiding such contamination. Rare earth magnets if exposed do contain cobalt, the magnetic alloy is referred to as NdFeBCo (Neodymium, Iron, Boron, Cobalt). However, rare earth magnets corrode rapidly, I would call it explosively, they swell and any such magnet would be severely deformed and in rough shape. In general I very skeptical of ICP and metal contamination, simply because I have yet to meet a hobbyist who does not get a similar elevated result for some metal and the levels are so low, even if elevated, these are a literal drop in a giant bucket, and for the majority of them, their is no consensus on what it means and what the effect would be. Cobalt in particular, at some low level is a coloration enhancer and needed trace element, in fact it is the heart of the Vitamin B-12 molecule, every molecule of B-12 has a cobalt ion at its core. As for coral losses, I am more apt to review basics, flow, nutrient level, light, diseases than to try to find a metal toxin, outside the big ones, copper and nickel, I think it is an unlikely culprit.

crushedacro · Aug 10, 2019

rvitko said:
Tin is commonly from PVC, the softening agent in PVC pipes and tubing is stannous butyl, Coral magazine had a write up about this a few years ago and the benefit of silicon tubing is avoiding such contamination. Rare earth magnets if exposed do contain cobalt, the magnetic alloy is referred to as NdFeBCo (Neodymium, Iron, Boron, Cobalt). However, rare earth magnets corrode rapidly, I would call it explosively, they swell and any such magnet would be severely deformed and in rough shape. In general I very skeptical of ICP and metal contamination, simply because I have yet to meet a hobbyist who does not get a similar elevated result for some metal and the levels are so low, even if elevated, these are a literal drop in a giant bucket, and for the majority of them, their is no consensus on what it means and what the effect would be. Cobalt in particular, at some low level is a coloration enhancer and needed trace element, in fact it is the heart of the Vitamin B-12 molecule, every molecule of B-12 has a cobalt ion at its core. As for coral losses, I am more apt to review basics, flow, nutrient level, light, diseases than to try to find a metal toxin, outside the big ones, copper and nickel, I think it is an unlikely culprit.

Nothing has changed basics, flow, nutrients, light. Tank is hard plumbed except for a short 1 foot piece of pvc tube which has been on the tank since the beginning.. I'm at a loss at this point

crushedacro · Aug 10, 2019

This is a lps only frag tank,bare bottom.
Alk 9
Cal440
P. 02
N 2.5
Temp 77

The flesh is either peeling back on fleshy acan types or receding from the edges on cyphastria /favite types

rvitko · Aug 12, 2019

I have had this happen as well, it has concurrently happened to a friend of mine and he used a different brand salt and our set ups had very little in common equipment wise. We both lost all our torches. The only common thread we had was we both fed live brine from the LFS before it happened and assumed some pathogen or eating spoiled food (dying past its prime brine shrimp) was the cause. You could run a Polyfilter to remove any heavy metals, in general if they stink and have brown/black decaying areas though I would assume a disease and not heavy metals. In our case, it took 2-3 days to die completely and the colonies stunk and had decay, we tried freshwater dips, iodine dips, off the shelf coral dips, nothing stopped it.

rvitko · Aug 12, 2019

Another thing to check, for a while I was on a loosing streak with gold torches, I could not keep one more than a few months no matter how hard I tried, a coral farmer gave me a tip to carefully keep Mg at 1400-1500, after doing that, problem solved.

crushedacro · Aug 25, 2019

rvitko said:
Another thing to check, for a while I was on a loosing streak with gold torches, I could not keep one more than a few months no matter how hard I tried, a coral farmer gave me a tip to carefully keep Mg at 1400-1500, after doing that, problem solved.

Thanks for the input. I have never had fleshy types peel back and abandon their skeletons before so this is new to me( over a decade in the hobby). My mag is always in the 1400-1500 range per my own testing and icp. Only feed frozen and flake. I had run poly and metasorb after the 1st test for a bit and now after the recent test. Polyfilter and metasorb does not list tin as something they remove though. I did a 75% WC and then my standard 10% weekly after the 2nd test. I am gonna send in new test next week. I checked all equipment again. I have a sinking feeling that a person that visits rather frequently may have poisoned my tank. After doing some research I found a pic that I had taken a day before this person began coming over with everything flourishing. I took the 1st icp the day he was over( problem is I cant remember if I took the sample before or after he was here) and I started having problems a week later. To add to the fuel he is friends with a person that the last time he came over I lost my homewrecker colony in the coming weeks.I know I know that this is unthinkable and maybe reaching...but I intend to test my fresh salt vat ,my display and the lps flat. If the level has dropped in the lps and the other 2 are clear( the display has never had a metal reading besides aluminum) I have the feeling it was poisoning. I moved the most affected to my display system and most recovered but I did lose a bunch.