Don't know what to do?

[sf_ramsden]

Let me see if I can find the threads that I was looking at so I can show you.

Both of our Eshopps racks have rusted magnets with less than 1 year of use.

Were you able to dig up the links for this? I tried researching but found nothing... Either way I made a new rack last night with the usual mag float and egg crate. Looks great and consolidated things from two racks to one!

When looking close at the eshopps rack it definitely had water getting to at least one of the magnets. It hadn't rusted yet, but looked like oxidation had started.

 

[sf_ramsden]

I had one of those in the tank, I went and scraped off some coraline and there was some rust on one of the magnets. I did however remove it a few weeks ago and am still having problems now, there is no way anything else made it into the tank and have done multiple water changes since . Maybe I should do a massive water change?

Have you tried running a poly filter? I went out and got one yesterday... It's supposed to pull out most hard metals. I did it as a precautionary measure, just in case one of those magnets were releasing something in the tank.

 

[VegasRick]

Before you do a massive water change, check your rodi water first. If your di is exhausted you will just be adding fuel to the fire. If algae growth is bad you may need to change the gfo out every couple of days. Don't expect a quick fix, it may take a couple of months to get phosphates back down.

 

[gar732]

Have you tried running a poly filter? I went out and got one yesterday... It's supposed to pull out most hard metals. I did it as a precautionary measure, just in case one of those magnets were releasing something in the tank.

I haven't tried that yet but it can't hurt to give it a try. It sucks about those frag racks. Obviously it a wide spread problem and eshopps should look into doing something about it. Mine is only about six months old.

 

[gar732]

Before you do a massive water change, check your rodi water first. If your di is exhausted you will just be adding fuel to the fire. If algae growth is bad you may need to change the gfo out every couple of days. Don't expect a quick fix, it may take a couple of months to get phosphates back down.

The rodi is brand new so there shouldn't be a problem there. I'm thinking about getting rid of a couple of my fish to help cut down the bioload also. I have a DIY cone skimmer that I think I should be getting more out of also, it is definitely over sized for my tank. I'll be sure to switch the gfo out often, how can you tell when it's maxed out?

 

[VegasRick]

Don't assume the rodi is fine, test it to be sure. DI resins are cheap, never hurts to change it out just for peace of mind. I have seen a lot of people who thought their ro was fine when actually it was at the root of the problem.
You can test the water coming in and going out of your gfo reactor. That will tell when. My understanding is gfo will reach an equilibrium with the water. The lower the levels the less it will remove. Fortunately it can be recharged easily so its better to err on the side of caution. I am too lazy to do that much testing and just change it out often.
Are you sure there are no fish picking at them? what is your stock list? Check your tank with a flash light at night looking for some type of predator.
Definitely run carbon aggressively if you suspect metals.
If nutrients are the problem then you should be using every tool you can to get it back in control. Carbon, gfo, manual removal of algae, adjust your skimmer properly. Avoid massive water changes as this might stress the system. If you skimmer is too big for the system it may not work efficiently

 

[gar732]

I know it's not the fish because I'm having the same results in my frag tank that is tied into my display. The fish in my tank are a clown, bangaii cardinal, pair of flame wrasse, mandarin, tomini tang, hippo tang, and a niger trigger( I watched him like a hawk and no problems at all). They are all 3" or smaller. I didn't think this was too much of a bio load because they are all small. I realize some will get big and I have a 125 available when I'm ready to upgrade. I haven't seen anything going after my lps and they are receding, they don't look like they are getting nipped at. I know that there may still be something there but for the time being I think it's something else. I've been thinking the same thing about the skimmer, I empty it out weekly and it's not even full. It skims more than my old remora but I think it should be skimming more.