Converted Turtle Tank - What should I do?

[WesW]

I recently traded a couple corals for a tempered 55 galon tank and stand from someone who got the tank secondhand and never set it up. They said the previous owner used it as a turtle tank and they weren't sure if it was ever treated with copper. I really want to set this up as a reef tank but have heard some horror stories about using converted reptile tanks.

Is there anything else I should be worried about possibly being in it besides copper? It is clean but is there anything I could/should do to kill all potential baddies? What would you do? Thanks for the input!

 

[H@rry]

I have heard that the silicone could absorb copper and then slowly leach it out. The only thing I could think of to do is fill it with water and a powerhead for a week or so and test for copper.

 

[WesW]

Thanks Harry. I've gotten the impression that all things that touch copper become copper "infected" (i.e. tanks, live rock, etc). If I put a powerhead in the tank for a week and then the tank tests positive for copper does that mean the powerhead is also copper infected and could not be used with corals?

 

[Tomoko Schum]

I don't know why people would treat a turtle with copper based stuff, but it's best to be on the safe side.

Here's what Dr. Randy Holmes-Farley wrote about removing copper:

Here are my thoughts on copper:

1. Copper in a reef aquarium is going to be strongly bound to organic materials. That is known to be true in natural seawater at normal copper levels. Maybe when you initially blast seawater with unbound copper there is substantial free copper for some period of time, until the copper concentration eventually drops, or the free copper has a chance to find organics to bind to.

2. While free copper may or may not bind much to glass (and likely none to silicone, IMO), organic bound copper will bind to both glass and silicone surfaces. Not into it, but onto it. It would be an interesting experiment to put some clear cured silicone into a copper/water solution to see if it turns blue. My expectation is that it will not, but I've not done the experiment.

3. It is my opinion that it is not too difficult to remove copper from all plastic and glass objects in an aquarium, but specifically not those that are calcium carbonate. A little bleach will remove organics and copper along with them. A little acid (like vinegar) will remove inorganic copper and some of its precipitates (like copper carbonate or oxide/hydroxide). I think all such objects can be reused after such cleaning.

4. Calcium carbonate surfaces are a much bigger concern. Just as magnesium gets onto and actually into calcium carbonate surfaces, copper and other similar ions would be expected to do the same thing. It is not trivial to clean live rock and sand. In most cases, I'd recommend tossing it. If that is just not an option, cleaning it in acid so that you actually dissolve some of the surface away is a reasonable thing to try, and some folks in my forum have done that.

 

[pickupman66]

Wes, FWIW, I did use a bunch of vinegar in the cleaning process.

 

[H@rry]

Although I don't think the P/H would absorb copper, if the water tests positve the expense of a P/H is a drop in the bucket.

 

[WesW]

No worries Pickupman. Thanks for the info Tomoko. I'm going to try filling it with water and testing for copper. If it does have copper I think I'll clean it with bleach and then vinegar.