First Triton water analysis results

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I asked them straight up during the MACNA talk if they've seen elevated iron content in tanks with GFO use and if that's why they switch back and forth, and they said no.

Ah, OK, thanks.

 

[gregoryleonard]

Are you using a magnesium supplement?

The lithium might be from long term use of a calcium supplement, assuming none is removed.

I showed that use of certain calcium supplements can add 2 ppm (2,000 ppb) of lithium over the course of a year. Brands change suppliers, but at the time in 2004, these were Dowflake, Warner, and ESV.

FWIW, I wouldn't be sure the lithium is cause for concern, as many people have used these supplements for many years.

Your boron and bromine are not a concern.

Thanks for the reply and explanations. I do use Seachem Magnesium supplement, but only 1 x per month, is that a concern?
What about the hard metal Tin (Sn) reading. should I be concerned about that?
So you don't believe it's the Reef Crystals (bad batch maybe) because I need to do 4 water changes and have 4 200 gal boxes of RC and was contemplating getting Tropic Marin Pro in case there was something in the salt batches. But the RC test that Triton did seemed to be pretty good except for the high AK (10-12dKh).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks for the reply and explanations. I do use Seachem Magnesium supplement, but only 1 x per month, is that a concern?
What about the hard metal Tin (Sn) reading. should I be concerned about that?
.

I don't know on either one, but I wouldn't stop supplementing magnesium.

Lots of people have elevated Tin. While a toxin, the average of all tanks in Ron Shimek's tank water study (0.095 ppm) about matched yours, and presumably many of them had nice tanks. I wouldn't get worked up over it.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-02/rs/feature/

 

[TheReefKeeper]

Randy someone told me they do not run GFO because of it's makeup would this play a role in any of these reedings

[FONT=Nobile, Arial, san-serif]I mean it's title worries me this is why I've never run it honestly [/FONT]
[FONT=Nobile, Arial, san-serif]GFO, or[/FONT][FONT=Nobile, Arial, san-serif] iron[/FONT][FONT=Nobile, Arial, san-serif] oxide hydroxide [/FONT]

 

[gregoryleonard]

Randy someone told me they do not run GFO because of it's makeup would this play a role in any of these reedings

I mean it's title worries me this is why I've never run it honestly
GFO, or iron oxide hydroxide

Just throwing this out there, I have been running GFO in a reactor in my tank which I just received the results for and there was no trace of Iron in my test results.
Fe tested at 0.00 versus set point of 0.10 ug/l, in fact the entire Fe group (Cr, Co, Fe) all tested 0.00 ug/l.

 

[TheReefKeeper]

Good to know may be randy can elaborate a little more

 

[Sangheili]

Keep in mind iron is consumed rather quickly by algae.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy someone told me they do not run GFO because of it's makeup would this play a role in any of these reedings

I mean it's title worries me this is why I've never run it honestly
GFO, or iron oxide hydroxide

Bear in mind that Triton cannot detect down to the surface NSW level of iron. So having none is not necessarily an indication of a shortage relative to NSW.

The iron in GFO is pretty insoluble. I've been curious to see if enough can be released to show up on these tests, but it seems not. That still might be more iron than NSW, and may be enough to help macroalgae and such (or not), but it doesn't appear to be so much that using GFO shows up excess iron in any tests I've seen. As mentioned, iron can be taken up fairly fast by growing organisms, and exported by skimmers or GAC since it is typically bound to organics.

I have heard some people correlate excess barium (IIRC) with GFO in tanks using using some European brand of GFO. Maybe it is contaminated with it. I don't really know and have no first hand knowledge of that.

 

[jgalen0025]

If you listen to the video that BRS Posted of Ehsan, he speaks of the aluminum phosphate removers and how he alternates between iron based and aluminum based phosphate removers to because the gfo removes the aluminum.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If you listen to the video that BRS Posted of Ehsan, he speaks of the aluminum phosphate removers and how he alternates between iron based and aluminum based phosphate removers to because the gfo removes the aluminum.

Interesting, thanks.

 

[Sangheili]

I did a lot of reading on Pinched Mantle with Tridacna clams and there seems to be a very direct correlation between Iron exposure and the rapid growth of the PM Protozoan (and subsequent decline of the clam). I recall also seeing anecdotal evidence from people that say their clams deteriorated rapidly immediately following addition of fresh GFO to their tank. So it may be that the GFO initially releases a large amount of Iron that is quickly taken up by the organisms in the tank.

It is just one observation, but I personally lost 5 or so clams in the past year before I switched from GFO to an aluminum based phosphate remover. The clams I have now are doing fantastic (knock on wood).

There is also conflicting information (even from published scientific studies) on the life-cycle of the protozoan that causes Pinched Mantle. Some say it lives dormant in the infected clams forever, others say it is killed off without a food source (iron) in as little as 1-2 months. If the later is true, then switching to GFO 3+ months after any new additions of clams to your may be acceptable.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I did a lot of reading on Pinched Mantle with Tridacna clams and there seems to be a very direct correlation between Iron exposure and the rapid growth of the PM Protozoan (and subsequent decline of the clam). I recall also seeing anecdotal evidence from people that say their clams deteriorated rapidly immediately following addition of fresh GFO to their tank. So it may be that the GFO initially releases a large amount of Iron that is quickly taken up by the organisms in the tank.

It is just one observation, but I personally lost 5 or so clams in the past year before I switched from GFO to an aluminum based phosphate remover. The clams I have now are doing fantastic (knock on wood).

There is also conflicting information (even from published scientific studies) on the life-cycle of the protozoan that causes Pinched Mantle. Some say it lives dormant in the infected clams forever, others say it is killed off without a food source (iron) in as little as 1-2 months. If the later is true, then switching to GFO 3+ months after any new additions of clams to your may be acceptable.

Maybe, but my Tridacna clam has been fine for years and I regularly dose iron as well as use GFO.

 

[Sangheili]

Maybe, but my Tridacna clam has been fine for years and I regularly dose iron as well as use GFO.

Maybe yours never came into contact with the PM Protozoan

Very hard to tell with the tiny amount of scientific research that has been done on the subject.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Maybe yours never came into contact with the PM Protozoan

Very hard to tell with the tiny amount of scientific research that has been done on the subject.

Could be. I am generally a lucky guy.

 

[Ike]

If you listen to the video that BRS Posted of Ehsan, he speaks of the aluminum phosphate removers and how he alternates between iron based and aluminum based phosphate removers to because the gfo removes the aluminum.

So then why not just use GFO and stop with the aluminum oxide??

 

[jgalen0025]

Pretty sure you would have to ask Ehsan that?