Excessive high Boron

[adamsfour]

I went back at look at my historical tank readings and it appears boron started to rise when I made two changes. About a year ago I started to dos Seachem reef carbonate and Brightwell magnesium. Prior to that I only used baking soda and calcium. That would lead me to it’s either the mag or Alk dosing product. I am in the process of switching to soda ash for my Alk solution as a first try.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I went back at look at my historical tank readings and it appears boron started to rise when I made two changes. About a year ago I started to dos Seachem reef carbonate and Brightwell magnesium. Prior to that I only used baking soda and calcium. That would lead me to it’s either the mag or Alk dosing product. I am in the process of switching to soda ash for my Alk solution as a first try.

That sounds like a fine approach.

 

[adamsfour]

I just got back my latest test results and Boron was still excessive. This after switching off of seachem sea carbonate to soda ash. Per another post and with help from Randy I just stopped using Reef Calcium and will wait a few weeks and check again. Only thing left is Brightwell Magnesium

 

[GiannisK]

I know this is a very old convo but I am also using Brightwell Magnesium and my boron has been increasing to the point of 9.91 mg/L now (ATI ICP). I do 20-25% water changes every other week.

@Randy Holmes-Farley is there any evidence that such levels should be a concern for aquarists?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I would not be concerned. Borate is low toxicity, and data shows much higher levels are needed to cause issues:

https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/42046/9241572043_eng.pdf
Marine

In static tests, Mann (1973) determined 24-h LC100 values for the amphipod Gammarus tigrinus exposed to boric acid, borax, and sodium perborate at two salinities (32.23%o and 17.66~Voo). The LC100,10 000 mg/litre, was the same for all three compounds at both salinities. The no-effect concentration for all of the compounds was 7500 mg/litre.

In contrast, Robinson & Perkins (1977) reported toxicity values for borax in the isopod Limnoria ligna rum and the seaslug Onchidoris fusca that are roughly two orders of magnitude lower than those reported by Mann (1973) for the amphipod Gammarus tigrinus. The salinity of the test water was 30%o. The 24-h static LC50values, after a 5-day recovery period, were 250 mg/litre (28.35 mg boron/litre) for the isopod and >250 mg/litre (>28.35 mg boron/litre)for the sea slug.

In studies with sea urchin (Anthocidaris crassispina) embryos, exposure to boric acid at a concentration of 37 mg boron/litre had no effect on development, whereas exposure to 75 mg boron/litre was fatal (Eisler, 1990).

 

[GiannisK]

I would not be concerned. Borate is low toxicity, and data shows much higher levels are needed to cause issues:

https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/42046/9241572043_eng.pdf
Marine

In static tests, Mann (1973) determined 24-h LC100 values for the amphipod Gammarus tigrinus exposed to boric acid, borax, and sodium perborate at two salinities (32.23%o and 17.66~Voo). The LC100,10 000 mg/litre, was the same for all three compounds at both salinities. The no-effect concentration for all of the compounds was 7500 mg/litre.

In contrast, Robinson & Perkins (1977) reported toxicity values for borax in the isopod Limnoria ligna rum and the seaslug Onchidoris fusca that are roughly two orders of magnitude lower than those reported by Mann (1973) for the amphipod Gammarus tigrinus. The salinity of the test water was 30%o. The 24-h static LC50values, after a 5-day recovery period, were 250 mg/litre (28.35 mg boron/litre) for the isopod and >250 mg/litre (>28.35 mg boron/litre)for the sea slug.

In studies with sea urchin (Anthocidaris crassispina) embryos, exposure to boric acid at a concentration of 37 mg boron/litre had no effect on development, whereas exposure to 75 mg boron/litre was fatal (Eisler, 1990).

Would be nice if the ICP companies explained their reasoning behind the critically low and critically high etc benchmarks. Or just admit they’re guessing!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Would be nice if the ICP companies explained their reasoning behind the critically low and critically high etc benchmarks. Or just admit they’re guessing!

You mean look behind the curtain? We know what happens then...

 

[Alazo1]

Old post but I got my icp results from Fauna Marin and stated that make up freshwater has boron. My tank water is high so I attributed to the make up water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Old post but I got my icp results from Fauna Marin and stated that make up freshwater has boron. My tank water is high so I attributed to the make up water.

What levels in each water?

What are you using for make up water?