Copper Power and Salifert Test Kit Problem

[Juslen]

Good morning Reefies!

I've set up a quarantine tank since I'll soon be ready for fish, and I've got some clowns and a 3" purple tang in there. I managed to get my hands on some copper power in Canada, so I've been treating them with that with a moderate ramp over 4 days.

The issue is, I've been using a Salifert test kit to test the water, which appears to give me somewhere between 0.5 - 1.0 for the copper level. I've got these fish in a 20g quarantine, about 18 of which is filled. At 6ml a day, I'm at 24ml which should put me at 2.25ppm. I've noticed that the bottom of the plastic is stained blue and the water appears clear!

I'm going to stop dosing copper at this point, but does anyone know a good test kit that works with copper power, or is my test kit screwed? Or is my copper screwed? Or are my fish screwed? Please chime in!

 

[Juslen]

I forgot to mention that I don't believe the copper is being absorbed by anything in the quarantine because I've not kept sand or rock there. I've attached pictures of the setup and the filter media inside (it looks like some scrubbing pads)

 

[Gareth elliott]

If the filter media is polyfiber or feels filled with grit, carbon, it is likely this is what is pulling the copper out of the water.

I only use plastic and ceramic media in qt. (My go to is nylon dish scrubbers)

 

[piranhaman00]

Salifert copper is tough, I was using cupramine so judging 0.5 is very hard, can’t remember the upper ranges...Hanna has made is so much easier, sucks to spend money on something used infrequently but imo it’s one of two necessary Hanna checkers, the other being phosphate (phosphorus).

 

[Juslen]

If the filter media is polyfiber or feels filled with grit, carbon, it is likely this is what is pulling the copper out of the water.

I only use plastic and ceramic media in qt. (My go to is nylon dish scrubbers)

After inspecting it, there is carbon inside of the filter pad. I usually keep the pump for it off and use it just when the seaweed starts flying around after the tang rips it off. Two days ago it might've been on for about 6-8 hours otherwise it wouldn't be on for more than an hour. Would that be enough exposure to pull out all the copper from the quarantine?

 

[Juslen]

Salifert copper is tough, I was using cupramine so judging 0.5 is very hard, can’t remember the upper ranges...Hanna has made is so much easier, sucks to spend money on something used infrequently but imo it’s one of two necessary Hanna checkers, the other being phosphate (phosphorus).

I think I'll invest in one. This is the first of many fishes anyways!

 

[dwest]

I think I'll invest in one. This is the first of many fishes anyways!

You will be happy you got one.

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

I quit using copper because of testing and dosing issues. That was before hanna.

I think a hanna checker is mandatory when using copper.