Hey guys, was hoping to get some advice on my triton lab results that just came in. For background, the tank is a Reefer 250 that is about 6 weeks old. I've got a mix of acropora with some random softies. Aside from a few acropora losses when they were first added (which I expected) things seem to be stable. I'm getting reasonable poly extension and the softies have grown significantly in the ~4-5 weeks I've had them. The fish all seem happy.
I'm mainly wondering about the iron (214 ug/l), zinc (17 ug/l), and aluminum (70 ug/l).
Here are my thoughts about potential sources and what I've investigated:
Here are yesterday's parameters (with a generally happy looking tank) if it helps:
1) Nitrate 20 (Red Sea, I've been feeding a bit more to bump this and also recently added a wrasse)
2) Phosphate 0.04 (Hanna ULR)
3) Calcium 540 (Hanna)
4) Alkalinity 9.6 (Hanna) (if anything this has actually crept up from 8.7 on 11/10) despite weekly water changes ranging 5-10 gallons with TM bio-actif
5) Magnesium 1350 (salifert)
6) Salinity 1.025
7) pH 8.1 (Red Sea)
Really appreciate you guys' thoughts. Let me know if you have any questions, tried to provide the appropriate background. Should I send my RODI for a ICP test? I'd be pretty frustrated to find there's an issue w the RODI water since my setup is new and the TDS of incoming water isn't terrible. Is the creeping alkalinity a sign of anything?
Ultimately, is this much ado about nothing?
I'm mainly wondering about the iron (214 ug/l), zinc (17 ug/l), and aluminum (70 ug/l).
Here are my thoughts about potential sources and what I've investigated:
- pumps/hardware - everything in this tank is new including pumps/wavemakers/heaters. there is no metal lid.
- radions - used and one of them does look like I could coat it in plasti-dip but I've only had it a few weeks. there has never been contact with the water and it's very very mild.
- RODI water - I'm using a new spectra pure 90 GPD system. I always flush the membrane before/after. the TDS always reads 0 before I start filling my 5 gallon jugs. Input TDS is around 160 average. I am always paranoid about my house's water, sometimes the bath will have some visible discoloration when initially turned on that clears after a few seconds. Not very legit but I did try a household dipstick test on my RODI water that didn't pick up anything (such as chlorines). I mix w TM bio actif.
- Marinepure blocks - I've heard these can leech some aluminum, I'm not excited to remove these if that aluminum level isn't a big deal as they're clearly pretty seeded by this point and part of my tanks filtration. My refugium has also always had some miracle mud.
- ChaetoGRO - I started using this to give my chaeto/caulerpa a boost. it almost worked TOO well (I've got some GHA to reel back in) and I've stopped using it.
- Chemipure blue - I doubt the GFO in this would raise iron that much? I feel like I would've found more on this topic while reading about my problem
- TM All-For-Reef - I'm dosing a tiny amount of this until my alkalinity actually drops, and there is definitely no siphon happening
Here are yesterday's parameters (with a generally happy looking tank) if it helps:
1) Nitrate 20 (Red Sea, I've been feeding a bit more to bump this and also recently added a wrasse)
2) Phosphate 0.04 (Hanna ULR)
3) Calcium 540 (Hanna)
4) Alkalinity 9.6 (Hanna) (if anything this has actually crept up from 8.7 on 11/10) despite weekly water changes ranging 5-10 gallons with TM bio-actif
5) Magnesium 1350 (salifert)
6) Salinity 1.025
7) pH 8.1 (Red Sea)
Really appreciate you guys' thoughts. Let me know if you have any questions, tried to provide the appropriate background. Should I send my RODI for a ICP test? I'd be pretty frustrated to find there's an issue w the RODI water since my setup is new and the TDS of incoming water isn't terrible. Is the creeping alkalinity a sign of anything?
Ultimately, is this much ado about nothing?