metalic sand

[Zerandise]

I have an odd one....

I got some substrate off a guy as it was older and wanted to add it into my sand for seeding. All seemed fine.

I am now getting small flakes drawn to the magnet on my algae cleaner. Doesnt seem to be much but some is enough?

I am thinking i should just break it down and start over again. anyone else have this happen?

the shavings are jet black by the way. and so very very small.

[Scavenger]

Check your pumps and equiptment for wear and tear. I think you may have a pump on its way out, hence the magnetic shavings.

[Zerandise]

I had the same thought. however i took a magnet off my fridge and stuck it in the sand i have left from him that has not gone into my tank yet. it came out with shavings on it. more than i wanted as well.

[Scavenger]

I had the same thought. however i took a magnet off my fridge and stuck it in the sand i have left from him that has not gone into my tank yet. it came out with shavings on it. more than i wanted as well.

OK tell the guy you got the sand off of to check his pumps then. :lol: :lol:

[Zerandise]

thats all fine and well. what do i do about a wack of metal in my tank?

Is it going to kill my corals and my LTA?

Do i need to break it down tonight or will a week do?

heh sorry i have never had metal in my tank before. Its more than any worn PH could make too. I got 20 lbs or so of sand and its all over in it.

[Scavenger]

Sorry I shouldn't have made a joke while you are undergoing what could be a nasty problem.

Anyway, I don't have any suggestions except maybe if you can still get hold of the sand provider and see if he has any information for you. ie how long was it in his tank and did he have significant die off ect.

Hang tight, I'm sure one of the senior reefers here should have an idea for you soon.

[StirCrazy]

just dredge your sand with a magnet, what did you use for sand? not the stuff you got from buddy but your original sand.

Steve

[Jack]

I would try the magnet trick. You never know if that's the only piece of metal in your sandbed. Could be crying over spilled milk to early?

[Zerandise]

I will try tonight. My magnet has a few hundred small sharded on it. the one i swiped in the sand in the bucket had much more. time will tell i guess.

[Jack]

Ah, well that doesn't sound good..

[Zerandise]

what are the possible side effects? I dont see anything rusting or changing colors at all. tho some chem reactions are not seen.

I did a good magnet check on it and its all over.

everyone seems healthy for now. I did lose some snails. the first loss i have had in my tank. like 4 or 5 of them in the past few days. nothing odd with my water.

[DOO-E]

I put little thingy on all my lines that has like cotton or something in them. This stops all particles from going into my aquarium. They work really nicly just cleaned it out last month ond it was pretty dirty.

[StirCrazy]

what are the possible side effects? I dont see anything rusting or changing colors at all. tho some chem reactions are not seen.

I did a good magnet check on it and its all over.



when i meant dredge the sand bed, I meant until the magnet has picked out all the iron particles.

on the plus side the particles have to be an iron or iron alloy to be magnetic so the most likely problem would be crazy algae growth.

but I would get as much as you can out and then watch to see what happens.. if things start going downhill suspect the sand bed. and remove it.

Steve

[Zerandise]

heh as a matter of fact i am having a crazy algae bloom. Its growing like mad. UnderWorldAquatics is helping me out with some new live sand. should have it in time to break the tank down this weekend. with any luck the bloom will stop. I not sure i could really get all the metal out of this sand. would take along time and its not that nice looking to start with. From now on tho i trade only with people here on canreef. heh flatworms, bubble algae and metal all in 2 weeks from trading outside canreef. no thanks!!!

I must say on a side note. Hobbists are by far the most giving/caring people around. I am also a big reptile person and they are the same.

Makes you feel good about being on a forum.

[sumpfinfishe]

I ran into something along these lines about four years ago :exclaim:
A buddy brought me back some black sand from Costa Rica.
It was about 5lbs so I just added it to my existing bed to provide some cool color patterens. Later that same week I was cleaning the tank when my magnet fell off going around a corner, and that was when I discovered the day from hell. I picked up the magnet to find that it was completely covered by black shavings. Another buddy of mine is a 15+yr machinist so I called him for some advice. My buddy told me that black or even white sand can contain high amounts of Iron if it's collected from a vollcanic region. Since any type of metal/saltwater in an enclosed system is not a good thing, I made up my mind that same day to do a full tear down. I didn't save any of my sugar sand either as I didn't want to take the risk. I just spent the $40 and bought another bag of sugar sand. After I was finished I would say it took me about 14hrs from tear down to setup, not to mention new water and rinsing all the live rock with a turkey baster and a few more buckets of saltwater.

If I were you, I would do the same before you start getting some serious problems.

Best of luck, Rich

[Zerandise]

Thats my plan this weekend. I am getting new /live sand from Underworldaquatic as well my refugium is being done by oceanaquatics.

If i can get them both done at the same time it will work well. It has been in my tank for awile now and nothing has died yet. I think i will be ok till the weekend.

It was just the shock of finding it in the first place.

I think all will be well in the end thanks to Canreef and its members.

thanks
-Rob

[sumpfinfishe]

I know exactley what you mean Rob, I almost $hit my pants when I saw the shavings on the magnet!

Hope all goes well, cheers Rich

[Zerandise]

Well since i found those shaving i have gotten on ehell of an algae bllom and i have some corals taking a turn for the worse. My green star polyips are starting to fade away as are 2 of my sps's.

Today is the day of the breakdown so with any luck all will go well.

[Zerandise]

The removal went well!

All bad sand is now gone and replaced with a mix of fiji pink and sugar sand. Have plenty left for my refugium when i get it put in too.

The only problem was when i woke on sunday. seems i had pointed a power head into a rock that blasted it down into the sugar sand. Sunday morning lookked like Christmas on the Reef! everything had i nice covering of fine white snow!!!

With alot of turkey basting and a reworking of the water flow all is well again!