Rust or leaching?

[mfollen]

Hey reefers,

I’ve been inspecting my equipment for any rust or leaching as one of my favorite staghorns started to recede at the tips despite stable parameters and available nutrients and food.

I pulled apart my probe magnets, and this innovative marine magnet does have more of a rust red colored connection which I am not sure if it is leaching or not. Any ideas?
Original product, notice the color of the middle magnet connective ends:

Here’s my probe holder magnet, which has been under water:

Do you think this is leaching or perhaps it’s just the coloration or the product?

In addition, I didn’t realize this at the time, but when I was cleaning my mp40s, I had dark brown red residue at the top ends of the mp40 metal shaft that sticks out from the ceramic sleeve. I didn’t think much of it as I thought it was algae and crud. But after doing some Google searches I worry it is rust. It looked like this:

What do you think? Do either of these colorations appear to be leaching any metals into the water?

I’m considering picking up some cuprisorb today just in case, but really want to 100% identify any leaching issues as this would not be the first colony lost. Thank you very much.

 

[Saltyreef]

Those magnets are rusted. I recently removed a zenreef heater holder that had the same issue.

And yes the mp10s do form a bit of rust on the shafts under the ceramic if you dont keep a dab of molykote on the tip.
Eventually the ceramic will crack off around the rusted stainless shaft and youll need to replace it.
The good news is if you send it into ecotech they will replace it for free. (Cracked, not sure about rusted but you can ask!)

As far as how much it leached into your tank, icp will tell but no harm in running cuprisorb or a poly filter pad.

 

[mfollen]

Ok thank you very much @Saltyreef

I wiped the red dots and didn’t get much residue at all on the napkin. The magnets are now above water level, but still in use.

For the MP40s, looks like I should get new wet sides just in case? The ceramic is still working fine. I haven’t had any lubricant on the tips. The vortechs are over two years old.