What to make of poly filter changing to a dark red in about 30 minutes?

[Dylan McKenzie Holloway]

Hello, I have been struggling with unhappy/dieing coral in my 100 gallon tank system that's over a year old. Up untill about 2 weeks ago everything had been great happy and growing. Then everything hit the fan. I've ruled out alk sable at ~8, salinity 1.026, phosphate .03, nitrates 10-15, calc 450, mag 1450, copper 0, ect.

At the end of my rope a friend suggested a poly filter pad for heavy metals. So I went to the LFS and grabbed two sheets. I cut up some pieces and put them in some high flow areas, I came back in about 30 to check something else and noticed the floss had changed to a pinkish color. Little while later it's pretty red.

First time using this stuff. Is it common to have it change colors in as little as an hour? Is this pink or red? How long should I let this sheet run before I swap to my next one? I swear my zoas already look better.

 

[john90009]

Have anything metal in the tank that can be rusting or leaching? The water changes is with good rodi water? I have only seen a quick change like that on tanks that heavily dose cooper but yours is aluminum I think.

 

[Larry L]

According to the web site the filter will turn orange with iron and red with aluminum. They recommend to cut a slice in it to see if it has changed color all the way though its thickness.

 

[ScottB]

I am with @Larry L for Aluminum. Are you running ceramic media? (I do run a ton, and I don't have unusual Al levels but others have apparently. Just FYI.)

What corals are being bothered? Leathers allegedly hate Al.

I would suggest you send out an ICP test like the ATI one. Pronto.

 

[Dylan McKenzie Holloway]

Have anything metal in the tank that can be rusting or leaching? The water changes is with good rodi water? I have only seen a quick change like that on tanks that heavily dose cooper but yours is aluminum I think.

I think the RO is good because a rubber bands a slice of poly filter over the tube coming out of my ro and ran it for a few hours with no change.

 

[Dylan McKenzie Holloway]

I am with @Larry L for Aluminum. Are you running ceramic media? (I do run a ton, and I don't have unusual Al levels but others have apparently. Just FYI.)

What corals are being bothered? Leathers allegedly hate Al.

I would suggest you send out an ICP test like the ATI one. Pronto.

I have some marine pure bio balls in my sump. I sent out a triton test they should get to their facility today, I expect results in a few days.

Things that have been hit particularly hard are zoas, followed by birdnest then euphyllia. No leathers. All mushrooms seem fine, maybe a tad less puffy, my rose bubble tip isn't happy. My zoas seemed to respond immediately to the poly filter being placed in the sump.

 

[Dylan McKenzie Holloway]

According to the web site the filter will turn orange with iron and red with aluminum. They recommend to cut a slice in it to see if it has changed color all the way though its thickness.

You think I may have a little of both built up?

 

[ScottB]

I have some marine pure bio balls in my sump. I sent out a triton test they should get to their facility today, I expect results in a few days.

Things that have been hit particularly hard are zoas, followed by birdnest then euphyllia. No leathers. All mushrooms seem fine, maybe a tad less puffy, my rose bubble tip isn't happy. My zoas seemed to respond immediately to the poly filter being placed in the sump.

The zoas responded positively to the pad or negatively? Hopefully positive.

I run 355 cubic inches of MP block with no issues, but you will find several threads around here blaming MP and/or Brightwell blocks for leaching Al, with pretty convincing arguments on BOTH sides of the issue. Good on you for being ready with the Triton; let us know what you learn.

Some folks with high Al have run GFO to bind it. (I would not do this unless Triton says you have a problem!) Polyfilter says it will remove metals but I cannot say for sure it will.

How old is the tank? How old are the MP spheres?

 

[Dylan McKenzie Holloway]

The zoas responded positively to the pad or negatively? Hopefully positive.

I run 355 cubic inches of MP block with no issues, but you will find several threads around here blaming MP and/or Brightwell blocks for leaching Al, with pretty convincing arguments on BOTH sides of the issue. Good on you for being ready with the Triton; let us know what you learn.

Some folks with high Al have run GFO to bind it. (I would not do this unless Triton says you have a problem!) Polyfilter says it will remove metals but I cannot say for sure it will.

How old is the tank? How old are the MP spheres?

They responded positively. Most of my zoas haven't been open in about 2 weeks and less than 2 hours after the filter pads I have some starting to open up.

The tank is just over a year old with the marine balls being about 2 years because they came from my nuvo 20 to seed the tank last april 20th. oh wow, just realized my tank is one year old today, crazy.

One new development is that I read a wet skim will take out more toxins than a dry skim so I set my skimmer a decent bit more wet. I then noticed that the skimmate, basically water because it's so wet, is pinkish as well?? If i shake the cup back and forth a bit I can even see a slight line in the cup like you would see if you put water and oil in a graduated cylinder and looked at it. I do have some cyano in the tank so this lead me to used some left over plain white filter floss and replaced the poly filter to see if it will turn pink but it hasn't, and neither has my filter socks.

Could the skimmer and the poly filter be pulling out cyano? and If so why would my zoas immediately get better?

My current plan is a 20% water change followed by adding my other sheet of poly filter and letting it ride till my triton results in a few day. Hows that sound?

 

[ScottB]

They responded positively. Most of my zoas haven't been open in about 2 weeks and less than 2 hours after the filter pads I have some starting to open up.

The tank is just over a year old with the marine balls being about 2 years because they came from my nuvo 20 to seed the tank last april 20th. oh wow, just realized my tank is one year old today, crazy.

One new development is that I read a wet skim will take out more toxins than a dry skim so I set my skimmer a decent bit more wet. I then noticed that the skimmate, basically water because it's so wet, is pinkish as well?? If i shake the cup back and forth a bit I can even see a slight line in the cup like you would see if you put water and oil in a graduated cylinder and looked at it. I do have some cyano in the tank so this lead me to used some left over plain white filter floss and replaced the poly filter to see if it will turn pink but it hasn't, and neither has my filter socks.

Could the skimmer and the poly filter be pulling out cyano? and If so why would my zoas immediately get better?

My current plan is a 20% water change followed by adding my other sheet of poly filter and letting it ride till my triton results in a few day. Hows that sound?

Well the whole red/pink stain stuff is a mystery to me, but your action plan seems spot on.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

While I have seen it for decades, I'm skeptical of the claim that the aluminum could give a red color. I do not see how aluminum can give a red color. I've never seen any aluminum complex described as red, and it does not have D orbitals that other metals have that can give color.

For example:

Origin of Color in Complex Ions

This page is going to take a simple look at the origin of color in complex ions - in particular, why so many transition metal ions are colored.

chem.libretexts.org

WHAT ABOUT NON-TRANSITION METAL COMPLEX IONS?

Non-transition metals do not have partly filled d orbitals. Visible light is only absorbed if some energy from the light is used to promote an electron over exactly the right energy gap. Non-transition metals do not have any electron transitions which can absorb wavelengths from visible light. For example, although scandium is a member of the d block, its ion (Sc3+) hasn't got any d electrons left to move around. This is no different from an ion based on Mg2+ or Al3+. Scandium(III) complexes are colorless because no visible light is absorbed. In the zinc case, the 3d level is completely full - there are not any gaps to promote an electron in to. Zinc complexes are also colorless.

 

[Dylan McKenzie Holloway]

While I have seen it for decades, I'm skeptical of the claim that the aluminum could give a red color. I do not see how aluminum can give a red color. I've never seen any aluminum complex described as red, and it does not have D orbitals that other metals have that can give color.

For example:

Origin of Color in Complex Ions

This page is going to take a simple look at the origin of color in complex ions - in particular, why so many transition metal ions are colored.

chem.libretexts.org

WHAT ABOUT NON-TRANSITION METAL COMPLEX IONS?

Non-transition metals do not have partly filled d orbitals. Visible light is only absorbed if some energy from the light is used to promote an electron over exactly the right energy gap. Non-transition metals do not have any electron transitions which can absorb wavelengths from visible light. For example, although scandium is a member of the d block, its ion (Sc3+) hasn't got any d electrons left to move around. This is no different from an ion based on Mg2+ or Al3+. Scandium(III) complexes are colorless because no visible light is absorbed. In the zinc case, the 3d level is completely full - there are not any gaps to promote an electron in to. Zinc complexes are also colorless.

So are you saying something else turned my poly pad red? Thanks for the extra info, brings me back to Gen Chem in undergrad.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So are you saying something else turned my poly pad red? Thanks for the extra info, brings me back to Gen Chem in undergrad.

I think it likely it wasn't aluminum. If you have red cyano, it might be whole organisms or just the organic molecule that colors them. Might be iron if you have a big source.

many people have elevated aluminum. Few report such colors when using a polyfilter to treat for aluminum. Im not sure if I've seen any.

 

[Dylan McKenzie Holloway]

I think it likely it wasn't aluminum. If you have red cyano, it might be whole organisms or just the organic molecule that colors them. Might be iron if you have a big source.

many people have elevated aluminum. Few report such colors when using a polyfilter to treat for aluminum. Im not sure if I've seen any.

I will keep you posted as to what my triton test comes back with then. Either way the poly filter pulled something out that was bothering my zoas because they are doing much better now.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I will keep you posted as to what my triton test comes back with then. Either way the poly filter pulled something out that was bothering my zoas because they are doing much better now.

The fact that it may be down now may make it hard to diagnose what was elevated.

 

[Dylan McKenzie Holloway]

The fact that it may be down now may make it hard to diagnose what was elevated.

I sent my test sample off on Friday, before I did anything with the poly filter.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I sent my test sample off on Friday, before I did anything with the poly filter.

ok, let us know what you find.

I searching the few red citings I could find online, one guy fed a lot of Brine shrimp which likely made the color.

 

[Dylan McKenzie Holloway]

Anyone know if chemi-pure blue works similar to poly filter? I bought the only 2 poly filters at my LFS and they wont have more till next week. They do have Chemi-pure blue though. I saw massive improvements with poly filter and think I found the source of heavy metal. I don't have the ability to get any more poly filter right now so I'm wondering is chemi-pure can take the place till next week?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Anyone know if chemi-pure blue works similar to poly filter? I bought the only 2 poly filters at my LFS and they wont have more till next week. They do have Chemi-pure blue though. I saw massive improvements with poly filter and think I found the source of heavy metal. I don't have the ability to get any more poly filter right now so I'm wondering is chemi-pure can take the place till next week?

No, it doesn't.

 

[Dylan McKenzie Holloway]

Alright so i got my triton test back and dont know what to make of it. Says I have no heavy metals which is good, but that's what I thought I was removing with the poly filter. So my question now is:

What would the poly filter have removed that would have instantly make my coral happier? I will attach my results at the bottom. My Zi and Ba seemed to have been high, could this be from a neodymium magnet corroding in the tank?

Triton Lab Showroom - Explore this water test results and click on the image above.

Someone wants to show you the water test results and shared this link to the evaluation. Click on the image above to explore the water test results.

www.triton-lab.de