Ive been buying the small portions of Seachem matrix that come in the zipper pouch for $7. They’re super convenient for qt as I just throw a few in the sump of my display then pull one out with each round of quarantine. They’re cheap enough where I have just been disposing after each use.
I decided to do a experiment. I took a pouch that had been used for a full round of qt. It had 0.5 cupramine for 3 weeks. After the 3 weeks carbon was run for 1 week. I had just kinda set the pouch to the side and forgot about it for a few weeks out of the water. I thought “hey maybe I can reuse it”. I let it sit out in direct sun on a few 100 degree days. Figured this would kill just about anything living.
Last night I took the pouch and put it in a solo cup filled with rodi. I let it sit for 24 hours than checked it with my Hanna ulr copper checker. Was kinda surprised how high the reading was at 0.77. I realize this is a very small amount of water so it very well could be negligible in a larger amount. But still even after a week of activated carbon, the bio media had held on to a whole lot of copper. I 100% would not risk putting it back in my sps sump and in the trash it went.
Just thought I’d share. I’m sure a million holes could be poked in my process and maybe it could be made safe to be used again. But at at $7 for the matrix and zipper pouch I’m not risking it.
I decided to do a experiment. I took a pouch that had been used for a full round of qt. It had 0.5 cupramine for 3 weeks. After the 3 weeks carbon was run for 1 week. I had just kinda set the pouch to the side and forgot about it for a few weeks out of the water. I thought “hey maybe I can reuse it”. I let it sit out in direct sun on a few 100 degree days. Figured this would kill just about anything living.
Last night I took the pouch and put it in a solo cup filled with rodi. I let it sit for 24 hours than checked it with my Hanna ulr copper checker. Was kinda surprised how high the reading was at 0.77. I realize this is a very small amount of water so it very well could be negligible in a larger amount. But still even after a week of activated carbon, the bio media had held on to a whole lot of copper. I 100% would not risk putting it back in my sps sump and in the trash it went.
Just thought I’d share. I’m sure a million holes could be poked in my process and maybe it could be made safe to be used again. But at at $7 for the matrix and zipper pouch I’m not risking it.
