9ppb Copper on a ICP analysis - appropriate level of concern?

[ZoWhat]

Any copper in the tank is a concern but wondering what the opinions are at an analysis of 9 parts per billion?

On a scale of 1 to 10 ?????

1 = hardly any concern
10 = totally freak out and start using metal removing products immediately


.

 

[KrisReef]

I have to vote for 10, there’s no option really
I got a Hanna copper checker and used Cuprasorb to remove copper from some live rock that people who quit the hobby gave me from their copperfish tanks. It worked slowly but surely.

The real answer is to look at your tank and see if the animals are doing well or not and let that guide your thoughts and responses to it High Number. The ocean has a low level of copper naturally and the number in the test results is still very low and from experience I would not freak or fret but I probably would get some cuprisorb running and look at the pumps and other possible sources and replace or remove them so that the numbers don’t get higher.

Hth!

What if you had not tested, would you be less concerned about the tank if you didn’t know?

 

[taricha]

I vote 1, no concern.
9 ppb is just enough that ICP is likely to detect it reliably. Not sure where the concern line for Cu should be, but for me that's well below it.

 

[ZoWhat]

Others?

 

[piranhaman00]

0

 

[JM302]

1 - BUT - Check to make sure your RO/DI is functioning properly. I'd guess it's making its way from the water supply or you've got some piece of equipment failing.

Either way I'd run some poly filter to prevent it from going from 9ppb to an amount that could be harmful.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It's not a concern, even if accurate, IMO (my tank had 11-13 ppb for a while with no apparent issue) and with some icp companies, it may not be accurate:

How We Use ICP-OES Results Of Unknown Accuracy And Precision

ABOUT THIS ARTICLE This article was authored by @Dan_P, @taricha and @Rick Mathew. We collaborated in the development of the experimental methods, the cost of the project and the analysis of the data. The project was started in August of 2021 with the purpose of understanding the quality of the...

www.reef2reef.com