Hydor Koralia NANO Magnet Warning

[rickg]

I checked my #1 yesterday its 6 mos old and looks fine.

[BLoCkCliMbeR]

One of mine:

 

 

looks like a map of a river system!

 

water just travels that way......there is a wall at the gym where i work that looks like that from water damage...

[CL_]

Yep, my two k nanos had that when I got them. I let them sit out in the air for a week, and they continued to rust out of the water. On of them had a blister in the epoxy, and there was a mound of rust on top of it. Pretty interesting. Thankfully the suction cups work just fine without the magnets.

[jaydanevich]

This is a one year old.

[GioReef]

WOW.... it looks like the more pictures we get, the worse the magnets become.

[Mr. Fosi]

Just to clarify: The only thing we know is that the magnets corrode.

 

We still don't know that the corrosion causes problems.

[Bonsai]

This is a one year old.

 

Holy sh*t. Kill it with fire!!!

[jtpq1290]

I have this Koralia NANO about a year and the magnets look like this in the picture below. Will Hydor replace a new set of magnet for me?

[Bonsai]

^ jtpq1290 - that is the cleanest 1 year old Koralia EVAR. woot.

[hcsceo]

This is a one year old.

 

OMG, that is pretty bad. Is there anyone here that would voluntarily put that in the tank and consider it safe?

[jtpq1290]

I clean it every time I have a water change, never check the magnets though until I read this thread. My corals are doing fine so far, only one thing I notice lately is a film of reddish stuff floating on the water surface (I don't run a skimmer), don't know if it has something to do with the magnets.

^ jtpq1290 - that is the cleanest 1 year old Koralia EVAR. woot.

[hcsceo]

I clean it every time I have a water change, never check the magnets though until I read this thread. My corals are doing fine so far, only one thing I notice lately is a film of reddish stuff floating on the water surface (I don't run a skimmer), don't know if it has something to do with the magnets.

 

Most likely not the magnets at all. This happens on my tanks that don't have surface skimmers. Probably just surface scum.

 

Steve

[jtpq1290]

I just called Hydor talking to Mike, he will send me the new magnets. That's great! Hopefully the floating surface stuffs will disappear if it's not the scum.

Most likely not the magnets at all. This happens on my tanks that don't have surface skimmers. Probably just surface scum.

 

Steve

[HydorMan]

This is a picture of a normal Koralia magnet from the very first batches of Koralias. It is the only type of magnet that people have had issues with. I want to stress that I still do not believe there is any issue here which impacts the health of our reefs. If however you are really concerned, we are exchanging them for newer versions.

 

I am going to post pictures of the other three newer versions of the nano magnets as well. I have not seen a single issue with any of the newer versions.

 

[hcsceo]

Yep that looks like the one everyone is having issues with. I sent my request throught the hydor website by using the contact us form. Is this the proper way to do it? I know in the past I sent one through there for a replacement grid and got it quickly and free of charge.

 

Steve

[HydorMan]

 

 

These are the next two versions. Again, there have not been any issues with these.

[HydorMan]

 

This is a photo of the newest version of the Nano magnet.

 

Nanos are safe and the magnets of Koralia Nanos made in the last year and a half are safe. They have multiple layers of protection and unless someone takes a drill to it, i don't see how any saltwater could make it to the actual magnet inside.

 

I know that if all you do is look at the few posts on this thread and the pictures displayed, it looks like everyone is having issues. I have only had 6 requests for new magnets since I offered to switch them out. There are tens of thousands of nanos out there that are problem free. Again, only the first few batches of nanos have the magnet that people are discussing.

 

Thankyou everyone for purchasing koralias and for letting us know how they are working for you after many years of service. I hope this answers your questions and alleviates peoples aprehension.

 

Sincerely

 

Hydorman

[Phixion]

HydorMan, looks like the 2nd pic, the magnet is sealed up?? Is that corrrect? Also as hcsceo inquired about, how do we got about getting ours replaced if we have the original version??

[Professor]

I have been doing some research on magnets as well as some comparisons in my shop that I thought I would share. This was prompted by a lack of response from Hydor to my queries regarding the type of magnet that is used in the K-Nano’s. If you recall in a previous post another member was told by Hydor that they were not rare-earth magnets but were industrial strength magnets.

This is information about the most commonly used industrial magnets.

 

Ferric (Ceramic) Magnet: Iron Oxide, Barium and Strontium

 

[*] Relatively brittle & hard

[*] Good resistance to demagnetization

[*] Excellent corrosion resistance

[*] Raw material is readily available and low in cost

[*] Good temperature stability

[*] high coercive force and high electric resistance

[*] Most widely used permanent magnets.

 

Alnico Magnets: Aluminum, Nickel Cobalt

 

[*] Production by casting or powder metallurgical techniques

[*] Excellent stability over a wide temperature range higher than 500°C

[*] Strong corrosion resistance capability without coating for surface protection

[*] Good resistance to demagnetization from vibration and shock

[*] Good flux density at an reasonable cost

[*] Very hard & brittle

 

Rare Earth Magnets: This includes two specific types of magnets - Neodymium and Samarium Cobalt

 

Neodymium: Neodymium, Iron, Boron

 

[*] High resistance to demagnetization

[*] High magnetic values

[*] Excellent cost to performance ratio

[*] Reasonable temperature stability

[*] Very brittle & hard

[*] Poorest corrosion resistance of all commercial magnetic materials

[*] Not suitable for application which exposed in high temperature conditions

 

Samarium Cobalt: Samarium, Cobalt

 

[*] Extremely hard & brittle

[*] High demagnetization resistance

[*] Excellent anti-corrosion properties

[*] More expensive than Neodymium magnets because of limited raw material supply

[*] Outstanding thermal stability

 

I also did some experiments in my shop with a Ferrite magnet, a Neodymium magnet and a Hydor K-Nano Magnet. The Ferrite magnet was of a similar size and shape as the Hydor magnet. The Neodymium magnet I had on hand was the same thickness but about half as big in diameter. I should point out that my Neodymium magnet had a protective coating.

 

First a general strength test. I only had one Ferrite magnet so this test compares the Neodymium magnet and the K-nano magnet. 2 Neodymium magnets were impossible to pull apart by hand and had to be slid apart with considerable force to seperate. 2 Hydor K-nano magnets were impossible to pull apart by hand and had to be slid apart with considerable force to seperate. They effort took to seperate each type of magnet was comparable.

 

I decided to test hardness. Using a wood chisel with a Rockwell Hardness of 62 I tried to scratch all three magnets. Results: The Hydor Magnet and the Neodymium magnet took approximately the same amount of effort to produce a scratch. The scratched areas on both magnets were both a shiny silver color. The ferrite magnet took considerable more pressure as well as more stokes to produce a scratch. The scratched area was a dark gray color.

 

Next I used a diamond coated file on all three magnets. The Neodymium magnet and the Hydor magnet took the same amount of strokes to produce roughly a 1/8” deep groove on the edge of the magnet. On the Ferrite magnet the same amount of strokes produced roughly a 3/32” deep groove.

 

I then dropped all three magnets from a height of 4 feet onto a ceramic tile floor. The Ferrite magnet shattered on the first drop. The Hydor magnet sustained a small chip on the edge on the fifth drop. The Neodymium magnet suffered no damage by the fifth drop.

 

Last, I wanted to examine the cross section of each magnet. Below are the pictures. The magnet on the right is the Hydor Magnet, the magnet in the middle is my Neodymium magnet and the magnet on the left is the Ferrite magnet.

 

Please note I do not offer conclusions or suppositions regarding my research and testing but simply present the facts. I will allow you all to draw your own conclusions. I am simply sharing my findings with the rest of the community.

 

Again I would like to point out that we know earlier K-Nano magnets corrode. We do not know whether there are any negative affects on our tanks because of this corrosion. I personally would still like a definitive answer from Hydor regarding what exactly the magnets are made of so that any potential risk can be assessed.

 

-Prof

[hcsceo]

Good work prof. Would be cool to know what they are made of for sure but would be interesting to test for Barium and Strontium and see what the levels are at.

[R33F]

if you leave the magnet out it will suction onto the side of the tank.

[jaydanevich]

Hydor sent me new magnets .They are awsome .I emailed and they came to my rescue.

[corallineadam]

I requested replacement magnets. 2 minute conversation and in 2 days i got them. np

+1

 

if you leave the magnet out it will suction onto the side of the tank.

+1

[snowlancer2720]

Just an update: I had the same issue as most of you and noticed a lot of my mushrooms and zoas shriveling and dying so I e-mailed to get a replacement. After installing the new magnets about 2 weeks ago and 20% water changes 3 days in a row, I have seen a very significant increase in growth if my tank. IDK if it was really the magnets or just a coincidence, or maybe just the water changes, but everything is back to normal. Anyone else have any success with the new magnets?

[corallineadam]

i never had problems to begin with, so new magnets didnt do ne thing for me...