Rusting Parts in Aquariums - Anybody notice any Negative Effects from Rust?

[Paul B]

Send me all your nickels and I will make sure they never go in a tank

 

[Up2no6ood]

Most heavy metals are not good.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Most metals can be bad, depending on how much you have, but copper, lead, nickel can be toxic at lowish levels. Zinc can be toxic too, although it usually takes more.

There is not a lot of good data on exactly how much of any given metal is toxic, and partly that is because it will entirely depend on what the metals are attached to. For example, copper in seawater is almost entirely complexed to organic molecules. Some of them hold the copper and make it unavailable to be toxic, and others do not. So a simple number is not all that useful.

 

[that Reef Guy]

Randy,

Do you know what Metals are in the Magnets in Eshopps Frag Racks or Tetra Whisper Filter Impellars?

I am wondering if either of those in particular are causing me problems.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Sorry, I do not know.

 

[Up2no6ood]

I doubt it was the tetra filter most impeller magnets are ceramic. Im pretty sure the frag rack magnets are nickel and copper.

 

[that Reef Guy]

I doubt it was the tetra filter most impeller magnets are ceramic. Im pretty sure the frag rack magnets are nickel and copper.

They definetly have Metal (the Pin that Runs through the Impellar) as there definetly is Visible Rust.

 

[Up2no6ood]

Or is it rust from the frag rack that stuck to the impeller? Had a similar thing happen to me with a tunze magnet but when I cleaned it off the magnet looked perfect. I realized the gfo particles were atteacted to the magnet making it look rusted.

 

[shred5]

The problem with steel rusting is it is not just iron, most have allot of impurities in it and I believe sometimes that impurity is copper. Allot of heavy metals are bad for a reef.

Iron is used up in a reef tank though sometimes.

Rust has always been thought to be bad.
Randy may know more about the difference between rust and iron.
I know there has been lots and lots of post over the years where people believe rust was a issue with their tanks. Rust has always thought to have been bad.

Remove the rusted part add some polyfilters and see if things clear up.


There was a issue a while back where pumps from China were rusting. Basically most underwater pumps are sealed in epoxy and they were not fully encapsulating the motors in epoxy.
Thread started with one guy who could not figure out what was wrong and one day he grabbed the pump and all this brown stuff pored out. Aall of a sudden there were allot of people who had the same problem with the same pump.

 

[that Reef Guy]

Or is it rust from the frag rack that stuck to the impeller? Had a similar thing happen to me with a tunze magnet but when I cleaned it off the magnet looked perfect. I realized the gfo particles were atteacted to the magnet making it look rusted.

It is not that as I have 5 Tanks with Tetra Filters and all 5 have Rusted Impellars.

Only one tank had the Frag Rack which I took out.

 

[that Reef Guy]

The problem with steel rusting is it is not just iron, most have allot of impurities in it and I believe sometimes that impurity is copper. Allot of heavy metals are bad for a reef.

Iron is used up in a reef tank though sometimes.

Rust has always been thought to be bad.
Randy may know more about the difference between rust and iron.
I know there has been lots and lots of post over the years where people believe rust was a issue with their tanks. Rust has always thought to have been bad.

Remove the rusted part add some polyfilters and see if things clear up.


There was a issue a while back where pumps from China were rusting. Basically most underwater pumps are sealed in epoxy and they were not fully encapsulating the motors in epoxy.
Thread started with one guy who could not figure out what was wrong and one day he grabbed the pump and all this brown stuff pored out. Aall of a sudden there were allot of people who had the same problem with the same pump.

Were the Pumps Jeboa?

 

[shred5]

Were the Pumps Jeboa?

Nope they were pumps used in some major brand of protein skimmers.

 

[ncfishguy]

Nope they were pumps used in some major brand of protein skimmers.

I have one of them now which is why I'm in the market for a new external skimmer

 

[that Reef Guy]

Nope they were pumps used in some major brand of protein skimmers.

Which Brands?

I need to know so I can avoid Buying those Brands.

 

[Bob agren]

I know someone who couldn't keep any corals alive in his tank. Turns out he had a rusted hose clamp submerged in his sump. I also have heard of corals looking bad if you have a rusted impeller (sump/skimmer pumps don't get cleaned/inspected as often.)

Just inspected my waveline dc 10000 and discovered the impeller rusted really bad the coating appears to have failed on the pump itself and it's rusted totally! Corals looking bad attribute it to Rust! Tank 200 gal has been on line flawless with no problem until now. Please if anyone else has had this issue with the waveline pumps please speak up as don't want to use this pump if it has issues with rust!

 

[Bob agren]

Waveline dc pump impeller housing falling apart rusted like Crazy! Anybody else with waveline dc pumps experiencing the same issue. Reef suffering think I found the Problem? Any imput will be appreciated. Red rusty water impeller almost rusted in place when went to clean. Doubt the pump would have run much longer! No telling what contamination I have to deal with!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Waveline dc pump impeller housing falling apart rusted like Crazy! Anybody else with waveline dc pumps experiencing the same issue. Reef suffering think I found the Problem? Any imput will be appreciated. Red rusty water impeller almost rusted in place when went to clean. Doubt the pump would have run much longer! No telling what contamination I have to deal with!

Google magnets reef2reef. There a few good articles.

I had a pump go bad last year the magnet on the impeller was pretty much mush.
Nothing happened.

 

[Bob agren]

Hmmm! Wonder what the metal content in the water rises to in a closed system like most all are and would be it be detrimental to reef health!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Hmmm! Wonder what the metal content in the water rises to in a closed system like most all are and would be it be detrimental to reef health!

Reread the thread here.

 

[RubyU235]

Recently I installed a UV filter, a very large turbo twist. I started noticing some things were opening quite right, then my acans all died (only a few but one of them was pretty rare). Couldn’t figure out what was occurring and then I started to experience some flow issues from the returns. I took everything apart and lo and behold there was condensation and a pooled rust deposit inside the quartz tube on the bulb side and deposits in the bulb. I refitted everything but there was a sizable rust deposit internal to the structures of the aluminum housing that I couldn’t scrub away because of the large “twist” baffle inserted inside. I still need to tear it back down and replumb everything. Going to relocate the unit and see if I can soak it in something to dissolve the deposits.