Yet another Triton Test result...

[XNavyDiver]

This time, it's mine.

Their recommendations:
-Six 15% water changes over six weeks.
-High in Tin. Find the source.
-Low in Potassium. Dose 48 ml of K.
-Slightly Low in Iodine.
-Slightly elevated Lithium.
-PO4 is too high. They measured .1, so my Hanna has been reading slightly low @ .06.
-My Ca and Mg are slightly elevated.

My thoughts/questions:
I've been following just about everyone who makes a thread about their Triton results, and Sn seems to be a very common thing to be high in. Why is that? I've already checked any possible source of contamination (metal hose clamps, rusty bolts or magnets...). Nope.
Is there an absorbent media that I can but in a bag and toss in the sump to absorb tin?

I assume doing a one time dose of 48ml of K is ok? Suggestions on product would be helpful.

No foggy idea on the lithium thing.

I guess I need to fire up the GFO reactor again and get the PO4 down a bit.

I'm not sure why my Ca and Mg are slightly elevated, as I haven't dosed those for some time now. Just letting them fall naturally sound like the thing to do?

As far as Triton's opinion on the Level of Importance:
1. Dosing the K
2. Dosing very small amounts of Iodine and Strontium.
The high level of tin doesn't make their list of importance. Strange.

 

[rtparty]

I'm not a chemist by any means so I can't help there.

But, how does the tank look? Anything crazy happening that you can't find blame for? If not, I'd take their results with a grain of salt (pun intended?).

Their testing platform is far from perfect and has a lot of questionable results.

.10ppm phosphates is nothing and actually a goal for some of us. I wouldn't add GFO personally.

 

[XNavyDiver]

I'm not a chemist by any means so I can't help there.

But, how does the tank look? Anything crazy happening that you can't find blame for? If not, I'd take their results with a grain of salt (pun intended?).

Their testing platform is far from perfect and has a lot of questionable results.

.10ppm phosphates is nothing and actually a goal for some of us. I wouldn't add GFO personally.

Thanks for the reply. I guess the tank is looking ok for a 7 month old tank. The whole reason I sent the test in is because of my struggles with SPS corals. They stn and wither in this tank. I suspect it's probably due to an immaturity issue (the tank, not me) more than a contaminate issue. My alk has been rock solid steady for sometime now and was getting curious as to why sps corals wither in this tank. I just don't think its a flow or lighting issue. I got those in spades.

 

[Mal11224]

I just ordered a test kit. I agree that many people report high levels of tin. Rust seems to be the culprit in many instances. I had a metal clip holding wires together and we all know what salt water does to metal. I removed it a while ago but then my coral tools, no matter how good I clean them, seem to get spots of rust on them as well. Maybe more care is needed. Nervous to see the results of mine.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Following. Dunno.

 

[XNavyDiver]

I just ordered a test kit. I agree that many people report high levels of tin. Rust seems to be the culprit in many instances. I had a metal clip holding wires together and we all know what salt water does to metal. I removed it a while ago but then my coral tools, no matter how good I clean them, seem to get spots of rust on them as well. Maybe more care is needed. Nervous to see the results of mine.

I honestly can't find a possible source of tin in this tank. I've never used any metal hose clamps when I did the initial set up, I take my wedding ring off if I have to use that hand in the tank (it's Cobalt anyways). What's strange is that Triton themselves doesn't seem to find it a terribly pressing issue as they don't mention it in their list of "Very Important for Your Aquarium".

 

[MnFish1]

It is interesting - Once again test results searching for a problem. I find the Triton testing backwards in some ways. If you look at your tank and see a problem, wouldn't it be best to look for the causes of that problem and test for those issues - rather than shotgun it with testing that will give results that no one seems to know what to do about? This is not a criticism of you Xnavydiver - it has become the standard that people send these tests in - and then dont know what to do with the results. There are always going to be false positives and false negatives whenever tests are sent in. The greater the number of tests done, the greater that one or more of them will be flagged as 'abnormal' just due to falling outside the normal ranges for the test (on a statistical basis). In medicine, doctors used to send 'panels' of tests - Metabolic profile, for example - with several tests to check 'everything'. What has been shown is that these panels caused more problems because of the false positives resulting in more testing/interventions all of which have the possibility for increased cost as well as 'complications' in trying to track down why test x was slightly abnormal.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

It is interesting - Once again test results searching for a problem. I find the Triton testing backwards in some ways. If you look at your tank and see a problem, wouldn't it be best to look for the causes of that problem and test for those issues - rather than shotgun it with testing that will give results that no one seems to know what to do about? This is not a criticism of you Xnavydiver - it has become the standard that people send these tests in - and then dont know what to do with the results. There are always going to be false positives and false negatives whenever tests are sent in. The greater the number of tests done, the greater that one or more of them will be flagged as 'abnormal' just due to falling outside the normal ranges for the test (on a statistical basis). In medicine, doctors used to send 'panels' of tests - Metabolic profile, for example - with several tests to check 'everything'. What has been shown is that these panels caused more problems because of the false positives resulting in more testing/interventions all of which have the possibility for increased cost as well as 'complications' in trying to track down why test x was slightly abnormal.

We've actually been talking about his prob in other threads for months.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

IMO, the tin (Sn) is the thing in that report to be concerned about. I would look for potential sources of metal in or corroding above the tank that might be a source, since tin can be quite toxic. Since you have and can't find it, perhaps a polyfilter might be useful.

Boosting the potassium a small amount is fine, certainly.

I doubt the iodine or strontium dosing will be useful, but it is not that hard to do and won't cause any harm.

 

[XNavyDiver]

It is interesting - Once again test results searching for a problem. I find the Triton testing backwards in some ways. If you look at your tank and see a problem, wouldn't it be best to look for the causes of that problem and test for those issues - rather than shotgun it with testing that will give results that no one seems to know what to do about? This is not a criticism of you Xnavydiver - it has become the standard that people send these tests in - and then dont know what to do with the results. There are always going to be false positives and false negatives whenever tests are sent in. The greater the number of tests done, the greater that one or more of them will be flagged as 'abnormal' just due to falling outside the normal ranges for the test (on a statistical basis). In medicine, doctors used to send 'panels' of tests - Metabolic profile, for example - with several tests to check 'everything'. What has been shown is that these panels caused more problems because of the false positives resulting in more testing/interventions all of which have the possibility for increased cost as well as 'complications' in trying to track down why test x was slightly abnormal.

You make a lot of sense. No offence taken from me. This was done out of my curiosity and also is just one of the manifestations of my OCD personality when it comes to the tank and testing. I guess this was just me wanting to know something a little deeper about my tank and water than what my test kits can tell me.

 

[andrew james]

I say this in every Triton test that shows SN that I see. I also have/had the tin issue and even my newer tests show very small amounts. I basically completely dissasembled my entire tank bagged ever possible magnet filtered all the sand and nothing never found a source. My only solution is now in my Carbon reactor I run a 1/2 cup Cuprisorb along with the carbon. It's not cheap but it keeps my tin level manageable and my acros are growing like weeds.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I say this in every Triton test that shows SN that I see. I also have/had the tin issue and even my newer tests show very small amounts. I basically completely dissasembled my entire tank bagged ever possible magnet filtered all the sand and nothing never found a source. My only solution is now in my Carbon reactor I run a 1/2 cup Cuprisorb along with the carbon. It's not cheap but it keeps my tin level manageable and my acros are growing like weeds.

Did you have invert issues before using the cuprisorb?

 

[Zagreus]

This time, it's mine.
I guess I need to fire up the GFO reactor again and get the PO4 down a bit.

Good job getting a test @XNaveyDirver. In terms of the PO4 reactor, Triton suggested that ifg I use GFO to use AL99 or RowaPhos/PhosBan as they seem to have less cross contaminates and can filter for metals like AL

Im actually going to take the last of my GFO out.

 

[andrew james]

Did you have invert issues before using the cuprisorb?

my tin hovered around 12ul. I had rtn and stn issues with a variety of acro and couldnt keep snails alive more than a couple of months.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

OK, thanks.

 

[XNavyDiver]

my tin hovered around 12ul. I had rtn and stn issues with a variety of acro and couldnt keep snails alive more than a couple of months.

If my snails start buying the farm, I'll know why! Thanks! As of now, I think they measured my tin a 8ul.

 

[Tim2@Triton]

http://www.pvc.org/en/p/organotin-stabilisers

I have heard of tin leaching from PVC, this pretty well sums it up.

perhaps we should rinse pipes better before installation? in my years of professional aquarium installation I NEVER made this a habit

 

[andrew james]

The Cuprisorb holds my Tin steady around 1.5ul just had another test last week. and everything was in the green except my PO4 but that's another thing.

 

[2una]

http://www.pvc.org/en/p/organotin-stabilisers

I have heard of tin leaching from PVC, this pretty well sums it up.

perhaps we should rinse pipes better before installation? in my years of professional aquarium installation I NEVER made this a habit

Would be interesting to see this run again now that icp is a bit more mainstream now

A number of people have recently been getting elevated results for Tin (Sn) in their Triton testing.

One hypothesis that was suggested is that tin in rigid PVC is leaking into the systems.

So I set up this poll to see if there is a correlation.

So please vote if you have information that may allow us to possibly identify a source of the excessive tin.

Please only vote once per system, even though the poll is in more than one location.

FWIW, the idea on the pipe age is that old pipes may have leached all the tin they are going to. It is just a hypothesis.

TIA
__________________
Randy Holmes-Farley

Current Tank Info: 120 mixed reef

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2454056

or to save the link clicking

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

http://www.pvc.org/en/p/organotin-stabilisers

I have heard of tin leaching from PVC, this pretty well sums it up.

perhaps we should rinse pipes better before installation? in my years of professional aquarium installation I NEVER made this a habit

This might be a source.

I did a survey here too related to tin and pvc, , but the results were not clear cut:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/triton-testing-poll-tin-vs-pvc.179515/