High titanium, copper, and other heavy metals

[Tay Kendall]

I've posted these before. But please take a look at all of these elements. There are very high metals that shouldn't be in my tank. And all I really need to hear are ideas on what could be causing these. I've checked my titanium heater, it's fine. It's a new tank so I haven't added anything other than alk once and red sea AB+ and reef raids. 

 

I've had tanks before. I've been working at a salt water only shop for 4 years, so I've looked at almost everything. I've had tanks before and have never has this issue. 

 

Any new info would be greatly appreciated. 

[seabass]

Not sure if this might help you:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/rhf/feature/index.htm

 

There is some interesting information that you can compare against in this:

https://www.waterquality.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/ANZECC-1992-guidelines.pdf

 

Obviously, water changes might help.  Also, Seachem CupriSorb will remove nickel, zinc, cobalt, cadmium, and manganese (in addition to copper).

[Tay Kendall]

8 hours ago, seabass said:

Not sure if this might help you:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/rhf/feature/index.htm

 

There is some interesting information that you can compare against in this:

https://www.waterquality.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/ANZECC-1992-guidelines.pdf

 

Obviously, water changes might help.  Also, Seachem CupriSorb will remove nickel, zinc, cobalt, cadmium, and manganese (in addition to copper).

Thank you for the links! I've been doing cuprisprb and many water changes already amd things are looking a lot better. Just upsetting not knowing what the hell is causing the problem! Lol

[mcarroll]

A Poly-Filter would be another good bet...

 

 

It's a wide-range adsorber that's pre-loaded with saltwater ions, so it only picks up non-saltwater ions or lowers high concentration levels. It doesn't mess with ionic balance.

 

As a bonus it changes color based on what it picks up from the water.   (brown for Ammonia is the most common, but depends on the tank)

 

Also, I would not assume that your titanium heater isn't the culprit.  Unless you have another piece of titanium that you can point to, that's the thing to focus on.   IMO buy a quality glass heater (Marineland or Eheim, IMO) and see if (after a few water changes, Poly-Filter, and activated carbon) that changes anything.  (IMO titanium heaters are to be avoided anyway....titanium filters are the aquarium gear I've seen fail the most....often it's the controller, but not always.  Leaking voltage is another common problem.)

 

It's good to pay attention and be curious, but is it possible that you're testing for things that don't matter and you're just noticing normal (aquarium) levels of oddball elements that nobody usually tests for?  

 

Unless you're having a problem with fish or corals, etc, I would be very very conservative in terms of taking action on the tank.  

 

Have you tested newly mixed seawater from the same source that your tank uses?

[Tay Kendall]

On 10/13/2021 at 11:46 AM, mcarroll said:

A Poly-Filter would be another good bet...

 

 

It's a wide-range adsorber that's pre-loaded with saltwater ions, so it only picks up non-saltwater ions or lowers high concentration levels. It doesn't mess with ionic balance.

 

As a bonus it changes color based on what it picks up from the water.   (brown for Ammonia is the most common, but depends on the tank)

 

Also, I would not assume that your titanium heater isn't the culprit.  Unless you have another piece of titanium that you can point to, that's the thing to focus on.   IMO buy a quality glass heater (Marineland or Eheim, IMO) and see if (after a few water changes, Poly-Filter, and activated carbon) that changes anything.  (IMO titanium heaters are to be avoided anyway....titanium filters are the aquarium gear I've seen fail the most....often it's the controller, but not always.  Leaking voltage is another common problem.)

 

It's good to pay attention and be curious, but is it possible that you're testing for things that don't matter and you're just noticing normal (aquarium) levels of oddball elements that nobody usually tests for?  

 

Unless you're having a problem with fish or corals, etc, I would be very very conservative in terms of taking action on the tank.  

 

Have you tested newly mixed seawater from the same source that your tank uses?

I'm so sorry for the late reply. I still never found out what was causing the titanium and other heavy metals in my tank. There were some crazy ones that were really high. I ended up using cuprisorb and so far my tank seems good. I've just been switching out cuprisorb every so often. I also got a uv sterilizer and I've noticed a big difference in ny tank as well. I'm definitely interested in the product you recommended though and will for sure check it out! Thanks so much!!