Scott's 270g aka Project Mayhem

[Scythanith]

I have not but I will right now. I am also going to contact TM to find out if there is Boron in any of their products I use, even in trace amounts.

Thanks!

[MitchM]

You're welcome.
As far as what to do about the elevated Boron, try growing some macro algae somewhere in your system, if you're not already.

[Scythanith]

Good read. I have a spot I can easily grow a ball of macro. I even have a red GHL simustick I've been meaning to use for something. May as well be this!

[sphelps]

Way back in the day I stopped using Ocean Pure salt because I discovered it contained higher than normal levels of boron. For that reason the TM salt would be the first thing I would rule out. Get a freshly mixed batch of salt water tested with Triton to see how the base line compares.

[Scythanith]

Yep that's a good idea. Will a ~60g batch be big enough to give a good representation of the salt?

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Scythanith

Yep that's a good idea. Will a ~60g batch be big enough to give a good representation of the salt?

Do you mean 60 grams of salt or 60 gallons of saltwater? If you mean the latter then that would be fine. The former would be questionable imo.

I'm not sure if TM uses Boron in their alkalinity supplement. There is also Boron in the Coral K Elements. I'm not sure I would be concerned about Boron at that level though.

Regarding the Mo - it's in the Coral A Elements.

I'm betting if you test your water with a Salifert Calcium kit you'll get a reading much closer to the Triton results. The Hanna Calcium Checker is notorious for giving false high readings - even if you're getting consistent readings. Also, if you're using the RO/DI water with 12 ppm TDS for the Calcium Checker that will throw it off too - you should be using distilled water for best results. My Calcium Checker is a shelf decoration and as far as I'm concerned that's all it's good for.

...And for the love of sticks why are you running old RO filters?!

Specifically read the part under "Deionizing Resin Depletion Issues" and make note that the DI resin is what takes the ammonia out of the city water here since Saskatoon adds chloramines to the water. Ammonia goes through the reverse osmosis membrane.

[Scythanith]

Gallons you meathead

Hans-Werner Balling himself has been emailing back and forth with me and has given me some good feedback. Like you said Myka, there is Boron in the form of boric acid in the K+and Molybdenum in the A-. The only reason I am concerned about the Bo levels is the Triton test analysis flagged it as dangerously high. Supposedly it will hit the fish and mobile inverts before the sessile ones. My fish, snails and conches are fine so far.

I will be switching over to a new Ca & Alk test kit once I get home. And to make Myka happy I will change out my RODI filters I get that the 12ppm could be affecting the Ca test. But if 12ppm is causing the RTN/STN problem... I will eat my socks. I used to use treated tap water quite successfully.