Does Siporax absorb copper?

[Myka]

I did a quick search, and didn't come up with much for answers other than a few heavily anecdotal opinions on both sides of the argument (of course).

Siporax, being sintered glass, in my mind should not absorb copper or have copper bind/stick to its surfaces. Does anyone know for sure?

 

[40breederzach]

I could be wrong on this but I think normal carbon will absorb copper after treatment.

 

[dwest]

I did a quick search, and didn't come up with much for answers other than a few heavily anecdotal opinions on both sides of the argument (of course).

Siporax, being sintered glass, in my mind should not absorb copper or have copper bind/stick to its surfaces. Does anyone know for sure?

Siporax did not absorb the chelated copper, copper power, in my quarantine tank.

 

[Muffin87]

Is there a definitive answer on this?
It'd be good to know if there's a type of biomedia I can trust not to absorb and later leach copper in my QT.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The context of the question is important.

There may be a small amount of copper bound directly to glass, but not enough to worry about. The bigger concern is that copper in seawater or reef aquarium water is bound to organics, and if those organics bind to glass and other surfaces, copper will bind with it. Being a high surface area material, the concern with siporax is higher than simple aquarium sides.

When dwest says it did not bind, how was that determined? if it meant that 2 ppm copper stayed roughly stable, that doesn't answer the question whether some did bind, and that later some of it may come off. A better way to analyze is to expose it to a copper solution, then move it to some old aquarium water without copper, and look for copper in teh new water by ICP.


I personally would not move any media out of copper treatments and into the main tank without careful washing. Is it for sure a problem? No. But it would concern me enough to not do it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I could be wrong on this but I think normal carbon will absorb copper after treatment.

I do not advise relying on GAC to bind copper from seawater. That's why metal binding products such as cuprisorb and metazorb and polyfilter are used.

 

[dwest]

The context of the question is important.

There may be a small amount of copper bound directly to glass, but not enough to worry about. The bigger concern is that copper in seawater or reef aquarium water is bound to organics, and if those organics bind to glass and other surfaces, copper will bind with it. Being a high surface area material, the concern with siporax is higher than simple aquarium sides.

When dwest says it did not bind, how was that determined? if it meant that 2 ppm copper stayed roughly stable, that doesn't answer the question whether some did bind, and that later some of it may come off. A better way to analyze is to expose it to a copper solution, then move it to some old aquarium water without copper, and look for copper in teh new water by ICP.


I personally would not move any media out of copper treatments and into the main tank without careful washing. Is it for sure a problem? No. But it would concern me enough to not do it.

My statement was based off the observation that adding enough siporax to my quarantine tank to provide enough seeded media (roughly a cupful of siporax in the hang on back filter of a 20 gallon long) did not reduce the measured value of 2.0 ppm copper.

I was basically trying to answer my own question of whether or not I could use siporax as a bacteria seed for my quarantine tank.

I used copper power and measured with a Hanna high range copper checker.

I agree that in no way I would then use this media in a display.

 

[Muffin87]

to rsonally would not move any media out of copper treatments and into the main tank without careful washing. Is it for sure a problem? No. But it would concern me enough to not do it.

I would only use it in the quarantine tank.
My only concern is that if I used it for multiple quarantine sessions with copper, the siporax may leach copper after several quarantine sessions increasing it to a level dangerous for the fish.

Keeping ammonia down with water changes is impossible in my two room apartment. Its already incredible I found a spot for the QT.