Post in Chemistry I thought I should share here

Yellow_donkey

New member
I got my ICP-OES results back (high sensitivity lab results where you ship your water to a lab, I get mine for under $30 on ebay and do them once a month, in lieu of consumer grade at home color match testing) and these showed elevated copper, tin and aluminum (not enough to kill anything but it has stressed three of my corals and I can only suspect has hurt overall growth). Needless these numbers have been bothering me. I have never had any copper near my system and have been HYPER-vigilant about any metals in my tank. I could only assume my Chinese return pump shaft was the cause or something else was very off with an additive or salt.

Anywho, I go to do my monthly 50% water change, yes I had these elevated toxic metals with once monthly 50% water changes, so there has to be something wrong. So last night I am at the end of my 50% water change and I wheel my brute to the guest room walk-in closet, or my fish room with sump, which my wife hates as you all can suspect. Anyways, I know it has been awhile since I cleaned out my biomedia bags filled with ceramic rings, pebbles and such. So I take the 4 large bags I have and rinse them all out in the waste water in the brute and replace them back into the sump. I noted that the bags are becoming rigid from age and assume that water flow has to be restricted so I decided they need to replaced.

Later last night I am on BRS and I am buying way to much fun stuff when I remember I need the media bags. I go to that section of the website and start looking at them and see the bags and they all say drawstring, drawstring... and am thinking I really like the 'zipper style' I have on one bag.......... And then it hits my like a brick.

I have a media bag, I just handled an hour before and cleaned out and has been in my reef for well over a year that has a 4" long metal zipper to close it.

I jump up from looking at BRS and go get the bag. Inspecting the white metal zipper, sure enough it is heavily pited from metal loss.

So I am writing this becasue as I said I have been hyper hyper vigilante with any metals or even the prospect of metal near my tank and for over the last year I have been seeding it with a Chinese made 4" long metal zipper which I guarantee you is made of copper, tin and aluminum.

I have not had any deaths but three of my 30 corals are unhappy and I would have expected some better growth overall. I really really do expect this zipper to be my arch-nemesis!

Thinking back I do not remember where I bought this zipper but can only assume it was a stray visit to Petco or Petsmart assuming any sold media bag would be OK for an aquarium. But in this case I was sorely sorely wrong, as they are OK perhaps in freshwater but not marine.

Don't be as naive as I was, check everything you put in your tank, as I cannot believe I did this to myself! This metal zipper never even crossed my mind, and its not like it was hidden, I handled it every time I rinsed the bags out!

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