High Barium and Zeovit Media

[Moe K]

Not a major issue but I thought I should put it out there. I am suspecting zeovit media to be the cause of high barium in my icp test results. When I first noticed that I had high barium I do as one does and search R2R for answers. I stumbled across two other posts that mentioned they had high barium and also use the zeovit method. I looked back an noticed my barium spike correlated with the addition of the zeovit media right at the beginning of July.

I removed the zeovit media and ran my system with out it for roughly 2 weeks and sent out the most recent icp test. The result appeared to be a nice drop in barium. It is not a serious issue IMO as other searches showed many reefers have had high levels with no ill effects to coral but in the pursuit of perfection I just thought I would show what I found. I am still not 100% sure but I do not recall changing any other aspect of my tank operations. The first batch of zeovit media was from KZ. I just put new zeovit media but this time it is from Aquaforest. Not sure if that will make a difference but I will try to update here on my next icp test. As a note I will be switching to triton icp tests in the future.

If you use zeovit media and have done an icp tests recently with a fresh batch please share your results. For all I know this could be part of the zeovit process in making some zeovit tank magic

 

[Moe K]

To add to this I also did an ATI icp test to confirm. Test results received Sept 19, 2023. So it was about 2 days later after looking for answers that I removed the zeovit. Roughly Sept 21-23. Somewhere in there.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks for the info!

I agree that I don't think barium is a big concern even if somewhat elevated, but there may be some toxic effects at several hundred ug/L.

Developmental effects of barium exposure in a marine bivalve (Mytilus californianus)

Previous reports indicated that barium (Ba) and/or strontium (Sr) were primarily responsible for the toxicity of a southern California produced water to developing marine embryos. To further investig...

setac.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

 

[Pod_01]

I am suspecting zeovit media to be the cause of high barium in my icp test results.

Some additional information about Barium:

Out of curiosity did you use different foods as well?
Also did you switch activated carbon type?

Regardless interesting about Zeovit…

 

[Moe K]

Out of curiosity did you use different foods as well?
Also did you switch activated carbon type?

Regardless interesting about Zeovit…

I feed SA Hatchery Diet pellets every other day and frozen mysis daily. I use BRS Rox .8 monthly for about 1 week and remove it. There was a bag of Rox carbon running on the tank when I pulled the last icp sample.

This investigation is still ongoing and will try to update after the next icp with AF zeovit. When it is time to replace the AF I may try again with KZ brand. They look identical except the AF zeolites appear to be a little cleaner meaning they didnt have much small rubble as the KZ brand did. For all I know they come from the same place.

I am also going to go in with a little skepticism about the zeolites adding enough barium to be harmful or if at all as the tanks I have seen use it obviously have no issues in growing fantastic corals. This is why I hope to hear from others running zeovit that have done some recent icp tests.

 

[Christoph]

Hello!
Yes, zeolithes leach significant barium. You can see some data from our investigation posted already in 2019:

Reaktormedien unter der Lupe

Was wird von Aktivkohle, Zeolith, und Phosphatadsorbern an das Aquarienwasser abgegeben?

en.oceamo.com

Best regards,
Christoph

 

[Pod_01]

Hello!
Yes, zeolithes leach significant barium. You can see some data from our investigation posted already in 2019:

Reaktormedien unter der Lupe

Was wird von Aktivkohle, Zeolith, und Phosphatadsorbern an das Aquarienwasser abgegeben?

en.oceamo.com

Best regards,
Christoph

Wow, thank you Christoph for the article. That is interesting…

So since the article is from 2019 does this apply:

or is there additional recommendations?
I believe most media have a note to rinse them before use.
So soaking you mean for an hour, day etc…

 

[Troylee]

Wow, thank you Christoph for the article. That is interesting…

So since the article is from 2019 does this apply:

or is there additional recommendations?
I believe most media have a note to rinse them before use.
So soaking you mean for an hour, day etc…

I soak mine in ro for about a hour before filling my reactor up.. sunny x gave me that tip.

 

[Christoph]

Wow, thank you Christoph for the article. That is interesting…

So since the article is from 2019 does this apply:

or is there additional recommendations?
I believe most media have a note to rinse them before use.
So soaking you mean for an hour, day etc…

we did not investigate how fast the majority of barium is released, so i cant answer that with certainty. But several hours to one day should be a reasonable timespan.

All the best,
Christoph

 

[Moe K]

Hello!
Yes, zeolithes leach significant barium. You can see some data from our investigation posted already in 2019:

Reaktormedien unter der Lupe

Was wird von Aktivkohle, Zeolith, und Phosphatadsorbern an das Aquarienwasser abgegeben?

en.oceamo.com

Best regards,
Christoph

Wow. Thank you for confirming. I will better rinse mine from now on. My mistake I did not search harder for this information. It must have passed me by being in German.