High levels of TIN in my tank

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Makers Marc

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I’ve had Tin issues too, one thing we have in common is flex pvc. Just curious, did this tank start with mostly dry rock?

Pure dry pukani soaked in LC for weeks before. So yes.

I did just find that my ATO tunze osmolator is rusting. I hope this is it.
 

Makers Marc

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So I just took apart all of my pumps and found a little rusting on my tunze pump I propeller I use for water changes, that was 5 yrs old. Also found a little on my Tunze Osmolator pump, also 5 yrs old. Pics of both.

I always assumed they were German made and a "stronger product", but corrosion can happen anywhere I guess. Unsure if this is 100%the cause of Tin and SPS struggles but only time will tell.

Also emptied my 55 inch sump and ran half my cleaning magnet along the bottom searching for metal.

I wish Triton would let us pay like $10-$20 for a single element test. Its crazy to spend 50bucks for each test, since you need multiple to confirm, etc.

20190903_154618.jpg 20190903_151627.jpg
 

Makers Marc

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Here's also my Triton test if anyone has other insight. I use Seachem Aquavitro Salt on my 180g .

I just removed my 2xmarine pure blocks from my sump as well last night. Hopefully that eliminates the rising Al. Ive done like 6 Triton tests already in the past 6 months.

Tank is 21 months old.

Screenshot_20190903-212409_Adobe Acrobat.jpg Screenshot_20190903-212415_Adobe Acrobat.jpg Screenshot_20190903-212419_Adobe Acrobat.jpg
 

Paul Delapenha

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Does anyone have an idea as to what carbon is best to use to help remove heavy metals? I'm dealing with the same coral loss
 

Hot2na

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try a polyfilter 12x12 . they work well at removing metals.
 

Dawsokj1988

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Cupisorb helped me (run in a reactor). That, and Panta Rhei Panta Lith. The key is finding the source. I spent a year trying to find where the tin was coming from. Once I found the source, cupisorb and panta lith helped remove it.
 

Makers Marc

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I tried Cuprisorb and measured with Triton before and after and it did nothing.

Large water changes are the only thing that brought it down. Like 30% changes every few days.
 

Sdot

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Im also dealing with an elevated tin problem. Each ICP test the tin level jumps up a large bit. Ironically i performed very small water changes (2%) a week or so before sending off the icp test. Im pretty sure its the water from the water changes (I buy premixed saltwater from a local shop). My question is if it were rusting equipment, i wouldn't see substantial jumps correct but a steady number?

TIN Levels:
1st ICP Test: 03/09 Result: 6.05 µg / l
Water Change performed 3/23
2nd ICP Test: 04/01 Result: 11.48 µg / l
Water Changed Performed 04/12
3rd ICP Test: 04/20 Result: 16.21 µg / l
Water Changed performed 05/02...i have not sent and ICP test.

What makes matters more complicated, most of my corals have suffered STN in way or another...i attributed that to low nutrients. I have started dosing phosphate and sodium nitrate. It appears the STN has slowed quite a bit...now i am curious if the tin is also a contributor..

I had two exhaust fans on the top of my canopy prior to buying a chiller (About a week ago). After inspecting them, i noticed one of the exhaust fans had a rusty screw on the on the fan assembly.
 
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Dawsokj1988

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Im also dealing with an elevated tin problem. Each ICP test the tin level jumps up a large bit. Ironically i performed very small water changes (2%) a week or so before sending off the icp test. Im pretty sure its the water from the water changes (I buy premixed saltwater from a local shop). My question is if it were rusting equipment, i wouldn't see substantial jumps correct but a steady number?

TIN Levels:
1st ICP Test: 03/09 Result: 6.05 µg / l
Water Change performed 3/23
2nd ICP Test: 04/01 Result: 11.48 µg / l
Water Changed Performed 04/12
3rd ICP Test: 04/20 Result: 16.21 µg / l
Water Changed performed 05/02...i have not sent and ICP test.

What makes matters more complicated, most of my corals have suffered STN in way or another...i attributed that to low nutrients. I have started dosing phosphate and sodium nitrate. It appears the STN has slowed quite a bit...now i am curious if the tin is also a contributor..

I had two exhaust fans on the top of my canopy prior to buying a chiller (About a week ago). After inspecting them, i noticed one of the exhaust fans had a rusty screw on the on the fan assembly.

The only way to know would be to test the premixed saltwater before putting it into your tank.
 

Sdot

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The only way to know would be to test the premixed saltwater before putting it into your tank.
Yeah unfortunately, thats going to cost about 100.00:mad:, but its worth it. One test for my system to determine where the levels are now and one for the premixed water.
 

Dr. Jim

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I just got an ICP test showing Tin =18 ug/l which is 180 times above the set point.
I read thru this entire thread and got a lot of good info, but I'll present my situation to see if anyone may want to comment. I need comforting! ;Woot

My Red Sea Reefer 170L (40gal) was set up only 4 months ago. All equipment was purchased around the same time and was brand new:

-50% Dry Carib Sea rock; 50% Gulf of Mexico rock
-Octo Regal skimmer; BRS RO/DI system; 2 new 29 gal tanks (Aqueon) for RO/DI reserve and salt mixing; acrylic (or plexi?) hang-on refugium with submersible pump; 2 submersible VarioS DC pumps; about 7' of 1/2" pvc (which I believe was old/used); Sched 80 PVC that came with Red Sea Reefer. 2 Vortech pumps.

Does anyone know if there could be tin in PVC primer and/or cement?

-Additives: Many Zeovit additives; Kalkwasser (very little); BRS bicarb and carb (very little); and Triton 4-part (very little)
-Salt: Started with I.O. (regular); Recently used 80 gal Red Sea blue; Have Tropic Marin Pro on hand (will start using soon since Red Sea is almost gone.)
-Lot of silicone air line tubing (for GHL Controller system).
-Two glass heaters
-I have about 30 SPS frags crammed in this tank (and a lot of fish). (obtained 4-9 wks ago). Many were brown when I got them and still are brown, but I'm not too worried about most of them. Many colored up but there has been very little growth so far. Only one died but 2 recently have started to show signs of tissue regression.

Only the Sn was elevated. (Zn, Cu, Cr and Ni were all zero or below set point) so that may tend to rule out rusty metal.

Because the tanks (including salt mixing and RO/DI reservoir tanks) are all new, I'm wondering about the tin coating on the glass as being the culprit....but no way to prove that.

Does anyone think the Carib Sea Dry rock could be the culprit?

It's late tonight so tomorrow I will carefully inspect for rust and start 20% water changes every 3 days or so.

It sounds like METASORB may be the best product to go with (along with water changes). Can someone please tell me if this is the Two Little Fishes product?

Any other ideas or suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks for helping!
 

KenO

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I just got an ICP test showing Tin =18 ug/l which is 180 times above the set point.
I read thru this entire thread and got a lot of good info, but I'll present my situation to see if anyone may want to comment. I need comforting! ;Woot

My Red Sea Reefer 170L (40gal) was set up only 4 months ago. All equipment was purchased around the same time and was brand new:

-50% Dry Carib Sea rock; 50% Gulf of Mexico rock
-Octo Regal skimmer; BRS RO/DI system; 2 new 29 gal tanks (Aqueon) for RO/DI reserve and salt mixing; acrylic (or plexi?) hang-on refugium with submersible pump; 2 submersible VarioS DC pumps; about 7' of 1/2" pvc (which I believe was old/used); Sched 80 PVC that came with Red Sea Reefer. 2 Vortech pumps.

Does anyone know if there could be tin in PVC primer and/or cement?

-Additives: Many Zeovit additives; Kalkwasser (very little); BRS bicarb and carb (very little); and Triton 4-part (very little)
-Salt: Started with I.O. (regular); Recently used 80 gal Red Sea blue; Have Tropic Marin Pro on hand (will start using soon since Red Sea is almost gone.)
-Lot of silicone air line tubing (for GHL Controller system).
-Two glass heaters
-I have about 30 SPS frags crammed in this tank (and a lot of fish). (obtained 4-9 wks ago). Many were brown when I got them and still are brown, but I'm not too worried about most of them. Many colored up but there has been very little growth so far. Only one died but 2 recently have started to show signs of tissue regression.

Only the Sn was elevated. (Zn, Cu, Cr and Ni were all zero or below set point) so that may tend to rule out rusty metal.

Because the tanks (including salt mixing and RO/DI reservoir tanks) are all new, I'm wondering about the tin coating on the glass as being the culprit....but no way to prove that.

Does anyone think the Carib Sea Dry rock could be the culprit?

It's late tonight so tomorrow I will carefully inspect for rust and start 20% water changes every 3 days or so.

It sounds like METASORB may be the best product to go with (along with water changes). Can someone please tell me if this is the Two Little Fishes product?

Any other ideas or suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks for helping!
I've been dealing with high Tin levels also. I switched to the ATI test since they will test your RO water in addition to your tank water. I know that my Tin is in my RO water (~20ppb). I just sent off 2 ATI tests yesterday. For the one test I took water directly from my RO storage container (Norwesco) and one with the water after it leaves my DI resin. I want to see if it is coming from the storage container or if it is in the water prior to going into storage. I have a 3 resin setup (cation, anion and DI mixed bed). I have been using Cuprisorb (some say it works, others say it doesn't) on the output of my RO/DI and SW storage tanks and I used it in my tanks. It's been a few months since I did my last test. I too can't seem to keep SPS alive and even my Euphyillas have been experiencing polyp bailout. I've also done a couple of the microbiome tests and they indicate that my microbiome is in the good ranges. So it's kinda hard to do water changes to lower the amount in the tanks when the RO water has it in it.
 

Dr. Jim

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My Tin level was 18. After 5 water changes and using Metasorb for 5 days the level should have been about 3.9 even if the Metasorb didn't do anything. (I noticed on the Metasorb label that tin is not listed with all the other metals that it removes). A follow-up ICP test came back at 22.

What I found interesting is that Triton did not recommend using DETOX. Does anyone know if TRITON DETOX is ineffective for removing tin?
 

KenO

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My Tin level was 18. After 5 water changes and using Metasorb for 5 days the level should have been about 3.9 even if the Metasorb didn't do anything. (I noticed on the Metasorb label that tin is not listed with all the other metals that it removes). A follow-up ICP test came back at 22.

What I found interesting is that Triton did not recommend using DETOX. Does anyone know if TRITON DETOX is ineffective for removing tin?
If you run an ATI test they will check your RO/DI water. Like in my situation my RO/DI water has tin in it. Doing water changes to remove tin is a mute point. I’ve been emailing back and forth with Jack Kent at Brightwell. They have a product to remove heavy metals. They don’t list Tin either. He felt that Tin is close to lead so the product may remove it. I’m going to order some to see if it works or not. Very frustrating that there isn’t a media to remove Tin. His comment to me is that Tin doesn’t occur that often. I disagreed with him. I sent him all my ATI and ICP tests showing my Tin levels. I’m not saying this is going to work or not but here is the product.

 

Dr. Jim

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If you run an ATI test they will check your RO/DI water. Like in my situation my RO/DI water has tin in it. Doing water changes to remove tin is a mute point. I’ve been emailing back and forth with Jack Kent at Brightwell. They have a product to remove heavy metals. They don’t list Tin either. He felt that Tin is close to lead so the product may remove it. I’m going to order some to see if it works or not. Very frustrating that there isn’t a media to remove Tin. His comment to me is that Tin doesn’t occur that often. I disagreed with him. I sent him all my ATI and ICP tests showing my Tin levels. I’m not saying this is going to work or not but here is the product.

Ken, Thank you for this info. I am awaiting an ATI test that I sent out at the same time and am curious to see how the RO/DI water comes back (as well as the tank water of course).
1) Have you heard anything about whether the Triton Detox works with tin?
2) Do you have any idea from where in the RO/DI the tin is coming from? (media or equipment?)
3) Are you using BRS equipment and media by any chance?
Thanks for helping!
 

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