Elevated Cu what now?

[Holy_makerel]

I have been dealing with SPS issues(acros) the last few months. Tips will grow well for a few weeks then die back, heal, and die back, this is on 3 of my 7-8 different acro frags. my cyphastrea which has thrived for about a year is almost completely dead but most everything else is fine. Fungia, hydnophora, zoas, chalice, blastos, several acros, 5 different lepto morphs, yumas and ricordia Florida all doing well.

I have a friend who runs an ICP and I talked him into running a quick sample through with the 50 element method he is developing currently. My Cu numbers came back at 0.4ppm and I'm concerned that this may be the source of my issues. I've got inverts in the tank, hermits, snails, an acro crab, as well as multiple species of worms that are all alive and seem fine.

Parameters as of yesterday(what I can test for)
Alk- 8.9 dkh
Ca- 410ppm
Mg- 1700ppm
No3- 5ppm
P04- 0.06

Salinity is 1.026
Tank runs at 79 degrees F

I have asked him how confident he is in the copper numbers since he is still developing the method but haven't heard back yet.

As a precaution I'm going to pickup some copper absorbing media to run.

I believe it is from the legs of my lights that are metal and resting on the edge of my rimless 60 cube. I see a little rust on it but they are never directly in contact with tank water. Planning on hanging them soon but in the meantime I'll be covering the base of the legs with plastic to stop any contamination from happening.

Any other ideas? I did remove and clean all pumps last month and there was no issues with anything so i don't think it is that.

Thanks

This is a 10x dilution so you have to move the decimal point.

 

[Big G]

Test your incoming water line to your house/RODI unit for copper.

 

[Holy_makerel]

Test your incoming water line to your house/RODI unit for copper.

Thanks. I'll pickup a copper test kit

 

[Christoph]

Hello Holy Makarel,

indeed Copper could be an the issue for your SPS bleaching. At 0.5 ppm it would be instant death to all corals. Please check with a standard copper test kit, it should develop a solid color @ 0.5 ppm.

But please be aware: Seawater is a very challanging matrix for analytical chemistry, also for ICP-OES. Im sure the reference standards from your friend were not matrix matched to seawater (or to its 1:10 dilution) and thus your results might not be 100% trustworthy.

If copper is indeed the problem: Check your RO water as already suggested by Big G. Furthermore faulty wiring on pumps or corroding magnets could be a source. Also if your lamp fixture is rusting, it could be very well the source of unwanted metals.

All the best,
Christoph

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

@Christoph is right, ICP testing for seawater is not the easiest thing to do. I would confirm the result with a home test kit or perhaps an ICP test from ATI or Triton.

As far as the source of the copper, it's possible that an aquarium light may have copper in the legs. I would think, however, that manufacturers would know better, given how toxic copper is to most marine invertebrates. One thing to check is your source water. If you don't use RO/DI, the copper could be coming from the tap water. If you are buying your RO/DI water from somewhere else, that could be the culprit. If you run your own RO/DI system, double check that your DI resins are not depleted. This article from Randy Holmes-Farley states that the DI resin is what removes copper from the water. If your DI resins are depleted or not functioning properly, source water with copper could be getting through.

 

[S-t-r-e-t-c-h]

In terms of getting it out of the tank, polyfilters are a good option...

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I agree it is a serious issue if real, but it may not be. ICP-AES can easily distinguish 0.1 ppm copper in seawater (I've done it myself), but someone who has not tested seawater before might have an issue.

Cuprisorb is a fine way to go.

 

[Big G]

+1 ^^^ Cuprisorb is really easy and works great. I like to put it in a high flow area of my qt. tank HOB outflow. Buy some muriatic acid. You can "clean" the Cuprisorb pad and make it good as new for another day. You can do this over and over. Good investment if you are going to be QT fish and using copper.

 

[Holy_makerel]

Thanks everyone for the replies! I ordered some cuprisorb earlier today and will get it working soon. I'm thinking it may be a falsly high positive since most of my corals still have good polyp extension and I'd think if everything was 0.1ppm copper away from death it would not look happy.

I do make my own RODI water and my tdu's are zero coming out.