Here is my two part,any chance these elements building up?

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philipph

New member
it was after i bought seachem's two part that i read that except calcium,magnesium and strontium their 1st part contains boron,iron,manganese,molybdenum,rubidium.Here is the analysis on the package per 1 gram.
Ca 95mg
Mg 5mg
Sr 0.1mg
B(as sodium tetraborate) 0.020mg
Fe 0.0005mg
Mn 0.0001mg
Mo 0.0005mg
Rb 0.014mg

My tank's daily consumption is around 0.8dkh of alkalinity and I do 10% weekly water changes.What is the chance that any of the above elements builds up after some time?im also a bit worried of borate skewing my alkalinity readings,is there such a chance?
 
All 2 part solutions contain impurities. these will accumulate but with how small the numbers are I think they would need years without water changes to reach significant levels. I would still compare them to the NSW levels or the maximum alloed levels to make sure they are much smaller.
 
Should they be named impurities though?manufacturers add them intentionally to likely serve a purpose.If you keep up with water changes maybe you wont need them i guess..
 
The borate will skew the alkalinity test using standard hobby grade alk kit. If you use the SeaChem salt mix, it also has about 4X the amount of borate that NSW has. So using both together can skew the results more. Without accurately measuring the borate content of your water it is difficult to determine the true amount of carbonate/bicarbonate which coral use for growth.

According to Randy's tests on the SeaChem Borate kit, it proved less than desirable. ;)
 
FWIW, this is a quote that Randy has made in the past:

"Seachem Marine Buffer contains excessive borate and/or boric acid.

The potential problem, and the reason I ALWAYS recommend against it, is that in a reef tank, corals are depositing calcium carbonate, and not large amount of borate.

So as you add the Seachem Marine Buffer, you replace the carbonate used, and add some borate each time. Over and over again, so the borate can rise. It can rise to the point where in an alkalinity test, you no longer know how much carbonate alkalinity you have, with it being masked by the borate alkalinity.

Consequently, even with an alkalinity reading of 7-11 dKH, you may not have enough bicarbonate/carbonate for corals to readily use to make their skeletons.



__________________
Randy Holmes-Farley
Club 65535"
 
Thanks Cliff,
this is what i was affraid with borate.im not using seachem's salt for this reason.fortunaly i keep my alkalinity relatively high 9-10dkh so i think i should be ok until the 2 jugs finish.ill then move to something else.
 
I don't know if the level of borate mentioned above by seachem is low enough to prevent build up if corals do consume some.For example magnesium in my tank is always depleted at a relatively fast rate even though im adding some through seachem's reef advantage calcium.its all about the quantity i guess
 
Borate is consumed at a lower rate than mag & much less than alk. Without proper testing for borate to make sure it is close to NSW, it is diffucult to say for sure. FWIW the Salifert Borate Kit worked pretty good per Randy's tests if you want to measure your borate level. The alk test kits results and recommendations are based on the borate level being at NSW level. Keep in mind you are likely adding borate in the SeaChem product at a greater level than consumption. Randy provides the calculations in his article noted above. ;)

The Salifert Boron Test Kit
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/sept2003/chem.htm
 
philipph said:
it was after i bought seachem's two part that i read that except calcium,magnesium and strontium their 1st part contains boron,iron,manganese,molybdenum,rubidium.Here is the analysis on the package per 1 gram.
Ca 95mg
Mg 5mg
Sr 0.1mg
B(as sodium tetraborate) 0.020mg
Fe 0.0005mg
Mn 0.0001mg
Mo 0.0005mg
Rb 0.014mg

My tank's daily consumption is around 0.8dkh of alkalinity and I do 10% weekly water changes.What is the chance that any of the above elements builds up after some time?im also a bit worried of borate skewing my alkalinity readings,is there such a chance?
Click to expand...


The listing is for the calcium supplement only. Whats in the alkalinity supplement?

The calcium supplement ingredients(part 1) you noted can be compared to nsw levels by dividing 412ppm the nsw level by the 95 ppm provided in the supplement .You get 4.33 . Applying this to the other element levels in nsw can get you to a reasonable estimate of the amounts of the other supplements as they relate to seawater. For example the B(boron) at
0.020mg x 4.33 would give you only 0.087 vs an nsw level of 4.5ppm,roughly only 2% of the natural level. Magnesium at 5mg x4.33 would equal 21.7 ppm vs 1280 ppm for natural seawater.

So the elements noted are in much lower ratios than natural sea water with and seem rather insignificant. I would not be concerned about buildup . They are likely impurites or estimates of impurites except perhaps the magnesium.
 
the second part mentions only that is a mixture of carbonates and bicarbonates.no other information or analysis..
 
A problem, IMO, with over the counter products is in most cases you don't know what is in it. ;)

A mixture of carbonates and bicarbonates is most likely a mix of baking soda and baked baking soda. Which you can use Randy's DIY recipe. If your pH is low, using just baked baking soda (recipe #1) would be best and drip it. If your pH is fine, then use regular baking soda (recipe #2). It will save you a lot of money and will accomplish what you want without adding unwanted chemicals. ;)
 
I agree with Cliff. In a Seachem product , I thought there'd be some borate in the alk part but apparently not.
 
i would worry about impurities that manufacturers dont add to match NSW and that just come with the Ca or Alk like copper or other heavy metals which can also accumulate.
 
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