Copper power 1.5ppm?

[Spare time]

Looking at @Jay Hemdal 's 2021 qt guide, he notes copper safe needs to be at 2.0ppm minemum. Does this also apply to copper power? I always was under the assumption that 1.5ppm was the minemum.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Looking at @Jay Hemdal 's 2021 qt guide, he notes copper safe needs to be at 2.0ppm minemum. Does this also apply to copper power? I always was under the assumption that 1.5ppm was the minemum.

I ran some initial testing, and when dosed according to label directions, Copper Power tested out at 2.1 ppm. Copper safe was around 2.35 ppm. I do need to run some additional tests though, to increase the sample size....

Jay

 

[Smite]

I always went 2.5 with copper power as directed on the label but I'm pretty sure it was humblefish who said lower levels were effective when using chelated copper. Even if 1.5 ppm was the minimum I'd go slightly higher to avoid any momentary dips during WC or a small overfill in top off dipping the level. I think 2.0 is safe and a good level to shoot for.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I always went 2.5 with copper power as directed on the label but I'm pretty sure it was humblefish who said lower levels were effective when using chelated copper. Even if 1.5 ppm was the minimum I'd go slightly higher to avoid any momentary dips during WC or a small overfill in top off dipping the level. I think 2.0 is safe and a good level to shoot for.

I strongly disagree with the idea of running copper at sub-normal doses. Too many times I’ve seen that fail to affect a cure. The only time I ever suggest that a when a person lacks a good way to test for copper....

Jay

 

[Billldg]

Run CP at 2.5 ppm. @HotRocks and @4FordFamily found some stands of Ick to survive 1.75-2.0 ppm.

 

[Spare time]

For reference this is on an 800 ish gallon lfs store system (I work there part time). I've never seen a case of ich break out in the system and the copper power is usually 1.7ish ppm (varies between 1.5 to 1.7# ish range).

 

[Smite]

I strongly disagree with the idea of running copper at sub-normal doses. Too many times I’ve seen that fail to affect a cure. The only time I ever suggest that a when a person lacks a good way to test for copper....

Jay

That makes sense, it'll give them a little buffer that way.

That's good to know CP needs to be ran closer to 2.5 to cover all strands of ich.

So with the LFS running 1.5-1.7 ppm, is it possible that's just suppressing the symptoms while in the system then? I know that is a technique for some local fish stores here.

 

[Billldg]

For reference this is on an 800 ish gallon lfs store system (I work there part time). I've never seen a case of ich break out in the system and the copper power is usually 1.7ish ppm (varies between 1.5 to 1.7# ish range).

It doesn't matter if its 8000 gals or 8 gals, CP levels are what they are regardless. At 1.5-1.75 they are just keeping the Ick and Velvet at bay. It isn't getting rid of anything. At those levels it just makes the fish look good. If you want to rid the fish of Ick and Velvet, keep them in a 2.5 CP level. Bacteria and such is very good at adapting.

 

[nightmarepl]

It doesn't matter if its 8000 gals or 8 gals, CP levels are what they are regardless. At 1.5-1.75 they are just keeping the Ick and Velvet at bay. It isn't getting rid of anything. At those levels it just makes the fish look good. If you want to rid the fish of Ick and Velvet, keep them in a 2.5 CP level. Bacteria and such is very good at adapting.

im going to be using copper powder blue for my QT tank to get my fish into shape before going into my tank, i currently have the QT set up and im buying a few fish ill want in my DT but i want to make sure they dont have ich so ima keep them in there for a good 30-60 days what is a good test kit thatll work on copper powder except for hanna

 

[dedragon]

I just follow humblefish's calculator, https://humble.fish/copper/

 

[dedragon]

im going to be using copper powder blue for my QT tank to get my fish into shape before going into my tank, i currently have the QT set up and im buying a few fish ill want in my DT but i want to make sure they dont have ich so ima keep them in there for a good 30-60 days what is a good test kit thatll work on copper powder except for hanna

Salifert i think is fine, not 100% sure on that one though

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

im going to be using copper powder blue for my QT tank to get my fish into shape before going into my tank, i currently have the QT set up and im buying a few fish ill want in my DT but i want to make sure they dont have ich so ima keep them in there for a good 30-60 days what is a good test kit thatll work on copper powder except for hanna

30 days is sufficient for CP. if you want to go 60 days, I’d suggest using coppersafe.
The salifert test doesn’t work on amine copper proxy’s and the API test is tough to read.
Jay

 

[Billldg]

im going to be using copper powder blue for my QT tank to get my fish into shape before going into my tank, i currently have the QT set up and im buying a few fish ill want in my DT but i want to make sure they dont have ich so ima keep them in there for a good 30-60 days what is a good test kit thatll work on copper powder except for hanna

The only tester I trust for Copper is the Hanna. I think Salifert makes a good test kit, but not sure.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

The only tester I trust for Copper is the Hanna. I think Salifert makes a good test kit, but not sure.

I'm not positive, but I think the Salifert kit only works with ionic copper (so a range of 0.0 to 0.25 ppm). I wish there was a good copper test for amine-based coppers, but I haven't found one other than the Bicinchoninate test that the Hanna probe and spectrophotometers use. I can get good readings on the API test kit, but only when I read the results in my spectrophotometer, when I try to eyeball it, it isn't accurate....

Jay