I run a near 0 water change tank and have used several gallons of all for reef

[Spare time]

I recently got my icp results back from ati and I was pleasantly surprised that nothing appeared dramatically awry. I dose about 80-90ml a day in my 75 gallon tank (not including sump). Everything not listed below was prefect or near perfect, with the exception of calcium which was way off from my test kit. However, I don't care about that. Silica was also high, but I have been overdosing it by accident.

Here are the things that were relatively off compared to their reference values, regardless if ati considered them a problem or not. A few of these were within the checkmark range (lithium, cobalt, copper, barium, aluminum) If anyone wants to see the full results let me know

Potassium: 309mg/l (ref 378.1); This I have to dose as all for reef does not contain this. I already knew this was low

Strontium: 12mg/l (ref 7.41); Not a big concern of mine

Fluoride: 0.52mg/l (ref 1.20); Again, not a big concern imo

Lithium: 250 mg/l (ref157.6); Not considered a problem by ati, but this is dosed in all for reef so the build up of this may be a concern overtime.

Nickel: 21.04 µg/l (ref 0.46); This may be due to several reasons. Hopefully nothing is rusting, but I will double check. This is dosed in all for reef, and may be elevated from previous useage of chaetogro (occasionally I had added a bit of that since my refugium is a bit of a sink for several elements, but I previously used to dose it daily). I don't think this is a huge concern, but I am going to run cuprisorb for a day or two for this and zinc).


Iron: 111.1 µg/l (ref 0.46); This one is definitely my fault. All for reef contains iron, but I had been dosing iron (brightwell's ferrion) separatley for a bit now to supplement my refugium that is lit 24/7 and to help midigate hydrogen sulfide in a few spots in my tank). I have dosed a bit too much, but I am not concerned as I doubt this will last long.

Copper: 1.04 µg/l (ref 0.46); Again, this is dosed by all for reef. Maybe some of this came from some rusting, but I am not sure.

Zinc: 31.74 µg/l (ref 1.85); This could be build up from the all for reef, rust, or build up from previously using chaeto gro. Not a huge concern of mine

Aluminum: 16.33 µg/l (ref 0.09); Considered fine by ati, but I don't know the source. My guess is either reminants from brightwell's biobricks I had in years ago (I doubt it) or impurities from dosing). I think it may have come from a bit of aluminum foil that fell deep into a rock (it was from a flake food container).

Iodine: 21.29 µg/l (ref 60.24); This is dosed by all for reef, but I don't care that it is low.

Cobalt: 0.82 µg/l (ref 0.09); This is dosed by all for reef. ATI doesn't see this as a concern, and it doesn't worry me.


Overall I was impressed. Thoughts?

 

[Oldreefer44]

I did my last WC 5 months ago. Use kalk and AFR. Got ICP back 2 days ago and only thing slightly off was Nickel. Pleasantly surprised.

 

[blaxsun]

It sounds like you have plausible explanations for some of the elements that you're concerned with, so all-in-all it sounds like your system is doing ok.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Overall I was impressed. Thoughts?

I would still do water changes for things you cannot measure ad the things that are off (potassium and zinc, for example), but if the tank is doing fine, that is good to know.

Potassium is much too low and should be dosed, IMO.

I'd look for any metal parts in the water that may be a zinc source.

Is calcium high or low by ICP?

 

[Spare time]

I would still do water changes for things you cannot measure ad the things that are off (potassium and zinc, for example), but if the tank is doing fine, that is good to know.

Potassium is much too low and should be dosed, IMO.

I'd look for any metal parts in the water that may be a zinc source.

Is calcium high or low by ICP?

I typically dose potassium. I just ran out of it recently so that is why it is a bit low. I have a test kit for it (salifert).

I need to double check some sports for zinc but I may have found the source. There is a rusting metal clap outside the flex tubing I have entering my sump. I have no clue how that is rusting other than the ocassional leak onto it when I have bumped my overflow pipes when cleaning that out. I am wondering if maybe the tubing has erroded and the metal is in contact with the water? I threw in some cuprisorb to keep for a day or two. I am going to double check my powerheads tonight

As for the calcium, the icp puts it in the 607.6 where as my red sea kit says about 490ppm. I have not dosed calcium separately in a very long time. I am going to compare it to a salifert one when I get the chance.

I may do some water changes this month, but I am often away from my tank for several months at a time, so typically this tank gets no water changes outside of cleaning the sump. There are a few spots of the tank I want to clean and siphon so I'll probably do a 15 or so gallon change soon. Unfortunately, I can usually only do 5-10 gallons a day at most. Everything is doing very well in the tank.