Copper light mount over reef tank

Saltyreef · May 5, 2019

Hello all,

I decided to make a copper mount out of 1/2" copper to suspend my AI hydras from over my open top reef.

The look is absolutely beautiful but has me wondering about as it ages and petinas, am i at risk of bits of the petina falling into the tank causing elevated levels of Cu?

Ive done a fair bit of reading about copper levels in natural sea water and have seen ranges from 0ppm(hawaii) to .07ppm(atlantic) to .09ppm from a standford research paper (dont know the source region)
Currently testing my water with a hanna copper checker yielded .03ppm copper concentration or 30ppb.
Im wondering if this is from my salt mix(red sea coral pro), impurities from my store bought DI water, or my light mount.
Nothing seems affected in my tank thus far but will be testing Cu monthly now to get a trend going.

My First step will be getting a batch analysis ICP test through red sea to check the content of my mix.

Second is testing the DI source water from my local water store (tds shows 0) but havent tested Cu.

Third, even tho there is no patina on the copper mount yet, im thinking of sealing it with one of many available lacquer type coatings to prevent any petina from falling off if it gets brittle enough.

At my place of employment we have copper pipes above salt water brine tanks and if disturbed the petina will flake off into my hand which has me thinking about sealing it up on my mount.

Any insight or thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

Paul B · May 5, 2019

It is fine. If you like wait until it patina's then spray it with a clear coat.

Saltyreef · May 5, 2019

Paul B said:
It is fine. If you like wait until it patina's then spray it with a clear coat.

Im super indecisive in that aspect. I love the look of both petina'd copper and bare bright copper!
Thanks for the reassurance!

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 5, 2019

Worst will be if moisture condenses on it and drips into the tank. Make sure that isn't happening.

Saltyreef · May 5, 2019

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Worst will be if moisture condenses on it and drips into the tank. Make sure that isn't happening.

Thanks for the insight! Luckly no condensation. Im assuming .03ppm copper in a mixed reef is nothing to wig out about? Hoping its just from the RSCP salt.

Paul B · May 7, 2019

I built my entire water cooled light fixture out of copper. I sprayed it with clear coat.

Saltyreef · May 7, 2019

Paul B said:
I built my entire water cooled light fixture out of copper. I sprayed it with clear coat.

Wow look at that! Thats a pretty cool design. I like the condenser! Is that over your current tank?

Too bad you couldnt pump your tank water through it and utilize as a heat exchanger.

Ill likely wait until it petinas a bit as right now its just getting darker, no blue or green yet other than where ive splashed some water onto the vertical run.
Thanks for the support.

Paul B · May 8, 2019

It was over my tank until one year ago when I moved and bought a bigger tank. It is so damp in my new fish room that the external splices on the LEDs kept shorting out to the copper and I had to remove it, but it worked great for a few years.

Saltyreef · May 17, 2019

Update.
Found source of copper levels. The RO I use from the glacier machine for my fish QT shows .17ppm of copper and 43tds.
Copper is at .23ppm when mixed up with RSCP salt.

The DI water i get from the store shows .20ppm copper and 4ppm tds.

Looks like ill be investing in a RO/DI unit sooner than i thought.