Cupramine And Live Sand

bevo5 · May 29, 2016

I know that people say sand and rock will soak up cupramine but it seems to be happening very quickly in my QT.

I put in the first half-dose of cupramine on weds. Tested on friday and barely got a reading at all. I did the 2nd half-dose and just tested today - maybe .25.

No carbon or anything in the tank. Could live sand/rock soak up that fast? I just put enough on the bottom to create a little digging and maybe 10pounds of live rock - in a 29biocube.

Also - is .25 even effective??? Should I try to bump it up?

Downbeach · May 29, 2016

It would be better if you didn't use any LR or substrate in a QT/HT. Keep it bare, and use pieces of PVC pipe for hiding places.

bevo5 · May 29, 2016

Yeah - agreed. I just had to set this QT up rather quickly and didn't have much established media to use so I took 10 pounds of live rock from sump and tossed it in there (I know this will nuke that rock forever). I put the bit of live sand in there to also try and boost the bio capacity of the tank. Lots of PVC in there as well.

I don't think I can remove the rock just yet - should I just keep pumping cupramine in there until I get the level I want? How dangerous is that?

Humblefish · May 29, 2016

The problem isn't just that rock/sand absorbs copper, it also leaches it back out. It keeps going back & forth. So, you can test your Cu level in the AM and its reading 0.25ppm, but then up to .5 by evening and back down to .25 before you go to bed.

You'll have better luck using a chelated copper (ex. Coppersafe) with rock/substrate because it has a wider therapeutic range (1.5-2.0ppm) to stay within.