.11 copper in coral QT

Miami Reef · Oct 20, 2021

I used a tank to quarantine fish with copper before.I soaked the tank in vinegar and the only thing I’m reusing is the sand. I ran a cuprisorb for a week. I tested with Hannah checker and it’s .11ppm.

I have a live rock with coralline that I purchased but I want to know when it’s safe to add my first coral/invert. Tank is fully cycled, but with trace copper.

I’m using the hannah HR copper checker and it can register 0.02ppm in a fresh tank with copper never added.

Miami Reef · Oct 20, 2021

I completely rinsed out the tank with the sand and did multiple vinegar soaks because I read it makes copper unleach. I then added a power filter with cuprisorb and THEN added 12 lbs of very aged rock to it.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 20, 2021

The Hanna checker is not really suitable for low level analysis. There are threads with false high signals in operating reef tanks, some with undetectable copper by ICP. I'm not sure what the problem is.

Consequently, I do not know if the value you are seeing is real or not.

mdb_talon · Oct 20, 2021

I dont know about the copper reading and if it is accurate, but I would personally not reuse sand that was treated with copper in a coral tank. I would not use sand in my coral QT at all, but if I was going to I would get clean sand or some sand from a tank not treated with copper.

Miami Reef · Oct 20, 2021

mdb_talon said:
I dont know about the copper reading and if it is accurate, but I would personally not reuse sand that was treated with copper in a coral tank. I would not use sand in my coral QT at all, but if I was going to I would get clean sand or some sand from a tank not treated with copper.

I know it’s not ideal, but 4fordfamily made a thread about him doing this. He said he runs cuprisorb for 2 weeks after copper shows undetectable before adding corals and inverts. And it works. He did this in DT tanks which were treated in copper before adding corals back in.

Copper is fine in trace amounts.

mdb_talon · Oct 20, 2021

Miami Reef said:
I know it’s not ideal, but 4fordfamily made a thread about him doing this. He said he runs cuprisorb for 2 weeks after copper shows undetectable before adding corals and inverts. And it works. He did this in DT tanks which were treated in copper before adding corals back in.

Copper is fine in trace amounts.

Very trace amounts, but that is probably the difference in our viewpoints. I just simply do not have enough faith in hobbyist test kits.... or the hobbyist (me) performing those tests perfectly. I have had too many issues with the hanna alk checker to ever trust their results with anything that could kill my coral if they are wrong by a small amount. To be fair though I would not trust any other test kits with that either.

Miami Reef · Oct 20, 2021

mdb_talon said:
Very trace amounts, but that is probably the difference in our viewpoints. I just simply do not have enough faith in hobbyist test kits.... or the hobbyist (me) performing those tests perfectly. I have had too many issues with the hanna alk checker to ever trust their results with anything that could kill my coral if they are wrong by a small amount. To be fair though I would not trust any other test kits with that either.

I’m running cuprisorb and it absorbs 12ppm copper in 60 gallons. My tank is 20 gallons with hardly any copper. I do think it will be fine.

I’m going to run a copper test on my DT. If I see that copper is less than the results I’m getting in the QT then I’ll just run the cuprisorb longer.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 20, 2021

Copper in Salt Mixes

Hey all, I've been quarantining new arrivals for a couple years now using Copper Power, so I've gotten used to how much I need to dose for my mixing containers. I kept getting higher levels the other day so I ended up doing a lot of testing. The Hanna Checker Copper High Range is used for all...

www.reef2reef.com

Miami Reef · Oct 20, 2021

I have an update:

First, I tested my DT: 0.03ppm.

Then I thought maybe the cuprisorb media needed more flow through it to work properly, so I refluffed the media inside the QT and I tested it and got .20ppm.

Did I cause the media to leach the copper?

Seems like I did make a mistake by reusing sand. Not a problem though, I won’t add anything until it gets to 0.

Is there a better method of removing absorbed copper that I can combine? I have a carbon reactor that I can add copper absorbing media etc. I know it’s possible to remove copper out because I’ve read people do so.

Miami Reef · Oct 20, 2021

Note: the copper problem is in a QT tank with NO corals/inverts. This is not an emergency situation. All my animals are safe.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 20, 2021

I'm not sure any of the values are accurate or real.

Miami Reef · Oct 20, 2021

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I'm not sure any of the values are accurate or real.

It seems like you aren’t sure whether my tank has copper or not, but one thing’s for sure: the hannah checker is not a suitable method to test trace copper.

So I’m assuming play it safe and run cuprisorb for 1-2 weeks to be cautious, or get an ICP test to determine actual copper levels.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 20, 2021

Miami Reef said:
It seems like you aren’t sure whether my tank has copper or not, but one thing’s for sure: the hannah checker is not a suitable method to test trace copper.

So I’m assuming play it safe and run cuprisorb for 1-2 weeks to be cautious, or get an ICP test to determine actual copper levels.

That's a reasonable plan.