- Joined
- Jul 25, 2017
- Messages
- 277
- Reaction score
- 532
Let me preface this by saying that I hold BRS in the highest regard. They are one of the best companies I’ve dealt with period across any industry. Customer service is awesome, and I really appreciate all of their videos, testing, transparency, and resources they put into making this hobby easier for us hobbyists.
So I almost hate to ask this, but is anyone having issues with elevated Tin that they can attribute to BRS Pharmaceutical grade Kalkwasser? @Bulk Reef Supply – have you had any tainted batches of this – specifically in late 2018?
Based on all the testing you guys have done in your Kalkwasser videos and the strict quality control that goes into these pharmaceutical grade products, I was always assuming that this was NOT the source of my Tin problem. However, my exhaustive efforts to track down my elevated Tin issues are traced back to the Kalkwasser, I think.
I’ll go into more detail below, but simply put, ICP testing of my RODI water shows Tin levels of 0 micrograms/l, so the source water is not the issue. I have a BRS 50 ml/minute dosing pump on a timer hooked up to an Avast Marine K1 Kalkwasser Reactor. The dosing pump pulls water out of the RODI container (0ug/l Tin), the water goes through the Kalkwasser reactor, and the water coming out of the Kalkwasser reactor shows 123.9 ug/l Tin per my most recent ICP test. So somehow my Tin levels are going from 0 ug/l going into the Kalk reactor to 123.9 ug/l for the water coming out of the reactor.
This is an Avast Marine K1 Kalk Reactor I purchased new, and there are no metal parts inside the reactor.
Here’s a little more background. I installed the Kalkwasser reactor to replace the BRS 2 part dosing strategy I was previously using. I made this change in late December 2018, as I had my wife get me this reactor for a Christmas present. By late January, I lost a torch coral and I had a pink lemonade acro that started to STN. Over the next 8 months, my SPS gradually faded, STN’d, and most of them died. I lost approximately 15 SPS colonies in this timeframe, some of which I had for years. LPS generally seemed to be unaffected. Until this point, my tank was doing awesome, this particular tank had been set up for 6 years, and acros were growing fast and colorful.
After checking my system very closely and finding no problems, I did an ATI ICP test earlier this year that showed Tin in my RODI water being 0 ug/l and the tank water tested at 65 um/l Tin.
I disassembled all pumps and powerheads looking for any sign of corrosion, and I found nothing. I checked my screen top – no signs of corrosion. I looked above my tank and sump for any metal or any signs of corrosion – nothing. I cleaned out my sump looking for any screws or anything metal that might have fallen in – nothing. I dragged a magnet through my sand bed and sump to see if anything fell into the tank – nothing.
I did massive water changes, tried carbon, tried Cuprisorb, and tried a polyfilter. None of these prevented the Tin from appearing at elevated levels in additional ICP tests I sent in to ATI for testing. Since I do regular water changes, I would expect the Tin value to be going down if it wasn’t still being added to the system on an ongoing basis.
Out of desperation and being completely out of options as I literally triple checked every little thing within my system, I sent in a recent sample of 1) tank water, and 2) the effluent from my kalk reactor for an ATI ICP test. Well, I’m happy I found the source because the water coming out of the Kalk reactor is off the charts for Tin. However, I’m also really confused since BRS Kalkwasser is supposed to be top of the line contaminant-free product. I would have been (and was) the last thing I would have suspected.
What am I missing here? Is there any other possible explanation I can look into? Has anyone else experienced this same issue? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
So I almost hate to ask this, but is anyone having issues with elevated Tin that they can attribute to BRS Pharmaceutical grade Kalkwasser? @Bulk Reef Supply – have you had any tainted batches of this – specifically in late 2018?
Based on all the testing you guys have done in your Kalkwasser videos and the strict quality control that goes into these pharmaceutical grade products, I was always assuming that this was NOT the source of my Tin problem. However, my exhaustive efforts to track down my elevated Tin issues are traced back to the Kalkwasser, I think.
I’ll go into more detail below, but simply put, ICP testing of my RODI water shows Tin levels of 0 micrograms/l, so the source water is not the issue. I have a BRS 50 ml/minute dosing pump on a timer hooked up to an Avast Marine K1 Kalkwasser Reactor. The dosing pump pulls water out of the RODI container (0ug/l Tin), the water goes through the Kalkwasser reactor, and the water coming out of the Kalkwasser reactor shows 123.9 ug/l Tin per my most recent ICP test. So somehow my Tin levels are going from 0 ug/l going into the Kalk reactor to 123.9 ug/l for the water coming out of the reactor.
This is an Avast Marine K1 Kalk Reactor I purchased new, and there are no metal parts inside the reactor.
Here’s a little more background. I installed the Kalkwasser reactor to replace the BRS 2 part dosing strategy I was previously using. I made this change in late December 2018, as I had my wife get me this reactor for a Christmas present. By late January, I lost a torch coral and I had a pink lemonade acro that started to STN. Over the next 8 months, my SPS gradually faded, STN’d, and most of them died. I lost approximately 15 SPS colonies in this timeframe, some of which I had for years. LPS generally seemed to be unaffected. Until this point, my tank was doing awesome, this particular tank had been set up for 6 years, and acros were growing fast and colorful.
After checking my system very closely and finding no problems, I did an ATI ICP test earlier this year that showed Tin in my RODI water being 0 ug/l and the tank water tested at 65 um/l Tin.
I disassembled all pumps and powerheads looking for any sign of corrosion, and I found nothing. I checked my screen top – no signs of corrosion. I looked above my tank and sump for any metal or any signs of corrosion – nothing. I cleaned out my sump looking for any screws or anything metal that might have fallen in – nothing. I dragged a magnet through my sand bed and sump to see if anything fell into the tank – nothing.
I did massive water changes, tried carbon, tried Cuprisorb, and tried a polyfilter. None of these prevented the Tin from appearing at elevated levels in additional ICP tests I sent in to ATI for testing. Since I do regular water changes, I would expect the Tin value to be going down if it wasn’t still being added to the system on an ongoing basis.
Out of desperation and being completely out of options as I literally triple checked every little thing within my system, I sent in a recent sample of 1) tank water, and 2) the effluent from my kalk reactor for an ATI ICP test. Well, I’m happy I found the source because the water coming out of the Kalk reactor is off the charts for Tin. However, I’m also really confused since BRS Kalkwasser is supposed to be top of the line contaminant-free product. I would have been (and was) the last thing I would have suspected.
What am I missing here? Is there any other possible explanation I can look into? Has anyone else experienced this same issue? Any help would be greatly appreciated.