At a loss…quite frustrated.

[Crustaceon]

Eureka!…? Perhaps?

Got home and checked my power heads. On the pump side of the inner magnet, hidden from view I found this….



I think it’s a piece broken off my long scraper that uses razor blades. It’s definitely steel as you can see and at 12:00 on the magnet you can see the orange spot where it was stuck. Definitely smelled like rust.

It’s small, but definitely rusting as the metal pieces just flake into pieces.

Could I have found the smoking gun?

Pretty good chance you found the culprit. Second the cuprasorb.

 

[Crustaceon]

Eureka!…? Perhaps?

Got home and checked my power heads. On the pump side of the inner magnet, hidden from view I found this….



I think it’s a piece broken off my long scraper that uses razor blades. It’s definitely steel as you can see and at 12:00 on the magnet you can see the orange spot where it was stuck. Definitely smelled like rust.

It’s small, but definitely rusting as the metal pieces just flake into pieces.

Could I have found the smoking gun?

Pretty good chance you found the culprit. Second the uprasorb.

 

[AFHokie]

Got an ICP from the LFS and it’s filled and ready for the mailbox.

Also grabbed a grounding probe just in case. Good insurance even if I don’t currently have a stray voltage problem.

 

[AFHokie]

Just got my Triton ICP back and most things are right in the green except the following:

All micrograms/liter

Cu: 7, little high?
Sn: 14, Very high?!
Li: 380, too high?
I: 22, little low

So clearly I have metals that shouldn’t be in there. The question is why.

My RO comes out at 0-1 (cheap TDS bounces between the two). Could these metals be making it past the RO and only reading 1 ppm on TDS? I changed the cartridges out a couple months ago and only run 5-10 gallons a week through it.

Could the metals be from that rusty razor blade?

I’ve had Cuprisorb in there about week and there seems to have been a big slow down in the LPS tissue loss but not 100%.

I know ideally I should run an ICP on my RO as well and fresh mixed salt but they will take some more time and it’s not an insignificant cost.

In the meantime is it safe to assume my salt (Aqua Forest Reef) and 0-1 TDS RO are probably okay and do some bigger water changes? Should I leave it and let the Cuprisorb continue to work until I can test the salt and RO? It’s targeted for the Cu but it says it will remove other metals as well. What about that tin? Will it remove that fast enough?

Thanks to everyone so far for the help figuring this out and saving my corals.

 

[AFHokie]

Here’s the whole report:

 

[Lavey29]

Here’s the whole report:

I'm pretty sure cuprasorb will pull those out but don't leave it in long or it will pull some trace elements you need too. Do a water change after removal. It's not uncommon to see some low levels of certain metals like aluminum on ICP tests but I think your higher levels were harming your corals.

 

[AFHokie]

I'm pretty sure cuprasorb will pull those out but don't leave it in long or it will pull some trace elements you need too. Do a water change after removal. It's not uncommon to see some low levels of certain metals like aluminum on ICP tests but I think your higher levels were harming your corals.

I did read that warning also but how long is too long? It’s been just about a week. Is one more “probably” safe and then H2O change?

 

[Lavey29]

I did read that warning also but how long is too long? It’s been just about a week. Is one more “probably” safe and then H2O change?

I'd check the manufacturer specs but I thought it was 3 or 4 days max.

 

[AFHokie]

I'd check the manufacturer specs but I thought it was 3 or 4 days max.

Directions say you can leave it at least 2 weeks after reading 0 Cu so I’m definitely still good at a week.