Alarming (?) ICP Results on New Tank

[jlbrew3]

Hi everyone,

I'm in the midst of getting a Reefer 425 up and running. It's been wet for 5 weeks or so and now cycled. No fish nor corals at this point - still an empty tank.

I decided to run an ICP test on the tank as a sort of baseline and was expecting a very boring report to come back. Instead I have some seemingly alarming results that I would really appreciate the community's input on. Specifically, I'm worried about:

• Manganese: 54 ug/l (ref 0 - 3 ug/l)
• Chromium: 3 ug/l (ref 0 ug/l)
• Iron: 18 ug/l (ref 0 ug/l)
• Silicon: 519 ug/l (0 - 200 ug/l)

The full results are attached. I'm using Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt. For comparison, I did an ICP test of my RODI water a couple weeks ago it came back totally clean (also attached).

Based on the suggestions provided by Triton, the first three seem likely to be caused by either contaminated salt and/or some sort of metal corrosion. Does that sound right? Any ideas on why the silicon is so high? Triton suggests RO/DI water (def not) and then a variety of media, none of which are in the tank.

My questions for the group:

1. How alarming are these results? I assume I need to action them but do want to validate that.
   1. Recommendations on what to do?
      1. Is this problematic enough to warrant draining the tank and refilling with different salt?
2. Ideas on source? The only metal items in the tank are a heater (brand new), a Vectra pump (not new but I cleaned it thoroughly and didn't see any signs of rust), and the pump in my skimmer, which I've admittedly not checked. I do have some stainless steel hose clamps on the return hose but none of them is submerged.
3. Could this be the salt? I know Tropic Marin had issues a ways back but I thought those were resolved?

Really appreciate any insight folks can provide!

 

[Cory]

All of those will come down with genrous algae growth. Silicate will come down through brown diatom growth or sponge growth. I wouldn't worry about it much, except perhaps chromium.

 

[jlbrew3]

Thanks for weighing in, @cory. As I’ve done some more research it does seem like the chromium is the main one to pay attention to.

i know it’s like asking you to read a crystal ball but any hypotheses on whether that’s coming from salt, a failing piece of equipment, or some other source?

 

[gbroadbridge]

Chromium can come from some adhesives used to build the aquascape If they are based on mortar.

It will be reduced with waterchanges.

 

[Cory]

The chromiums probably from your salt imo.

 

[jlbrew3]

Thanks for the input, folks. I think I’ll swap to a different salt and do some water changes ahead of adding my first livestock. Pop