High silicon and zinc, whats the most likely culprit?

[whitelightning77]

So I got my ICP results back from ATI. One of the main things that stands out to me is the high zinc levels in both my tank and RODI water. If I didn't have high levels in my RO I would tend to assume that I might have something leaching in the display. But since I have already high levels in the RO would i be safe to assume that the high levels in the tank are from the RO contamination? Adding probably 3 or 4 gallons a day to the display via ATO and kalkwasser.


I'm planning to look in my RO reservoir for anything rusting. However the ATI recommendations say its usually from exhausted DI resin. Full disclaimer, my TDS meter is reading 1-2 tds right now. I haven't changed the resin in probably 3-4 months and the pre-filter in probably 8 months +. I'm on a well system here in South West Florida so I usually didn't have to change out the filters to often. So is it safe to say that most of that elevated zinc and silicon are coming from exhausted media in the RODi system?


Ps, I know my potassium is super high. Thats thanks to the crappy salifert potassium test hits. Original one read low so I added potassium by brightwell. Now that other two new test kits don't even register my reef levels properly. Probably because the levels are so high. Ugh!

 

[taricha]

What are these high levels?
Post report?

 

[whitelightning77]

Shoot, sorry. I forgot to attach the images. This is to RODI

What are these high levels?
Post

 

[whitelightning77]

These are the reading for the reef

 

[UMALUM]

So Florida = quartz = silicate and usually the closer you are to the ocean the higher the content. We have relatively good water at 25 but I have found that I still have to use 2 di's in-line to help my issue. Testing your tap will go a long way in seeing how many are passing through your existing setup.

My guess on the zinc would be old pipes or newer treated pipes depending on the age of your real estate. Either way doubling up on di and making sure you have a solid membrane in line is about all you can do.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I’d ignore the Si. It is no concern unless you have problematic levels of diatoms.

Zinc can come from metal parts such as screws and clamps.

 

[whitelightning77]

Well I got my new results after replacing all my pre-filters and membranes on the rodi unit.

 

[whitelightning77]

Ok, so I got my second round of results back from ati. I'm happy its moving in the right direction. Main thing is that after being gone on a 1.5 week long vacation, my corals, esp the montis (which were the issue mainly) have shown noticeable progress on color. This is all after 3 40-50 gal water changes (340- 350ish total gallon system) before I left on vacation.

One thing that stands out to me is that my sulfur has crept up slightly higher. What can cause sulfur to rise? I'm using instant ocean (orange box) as my salt.

Anything else that stands out to you guys? Besides the potassium which I know of and has gone down a bit since last icp test.

Anything you see in the difference in results from the 2 tests that would indicate why my tank is starting to rebound?

Reef tank results

 

[whitelightning77]

RO water test results after replacing the pre-filter, membrane, and di resin.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Despite everyone focusing on it. RO/DI at 0-1 ppm TDS is rarely ever any sort of problem.

Sulfur as sulfate is the third most abundant ion in seawater. unless you use a sulfur denitrator or are dosing a lot of Epsom salt for magnesium, it typically reflects the values in the salt mix and are not a concern.

I challenge the "critically high" comment since I've never seen evidence of a problem from reasonable deviations in the chloride/sulfate ratio (which is the only way sulfate can change at fixed salinity..