Embarrassed to ask this question...

zoechance · Jan 18, 2013

I am embarrassed to ask this questiom cause then you will all know that I used arrowhead water and tap water filtered through only a cheap culligan filter in my FOWLR tank. But dont be hatin on me cause the fish didnt seem to mind and are alive and well, some 5-10 yo...
my question is: if I use the LR from this FOWLR (beautiful tonga branch, no aptasia no algea) in my new reef tank is there a chance that the rock contains copper and other heavy metals from the "bad water" i used all these years? and then it will leach out and kill any chance I have to keep corals? I plan on a mixed reef for my new tank which has enough flow and nice enough lighting for SPS corals one day when all is stable and matured etc...
Interesting question Huh? these are the things that occur to me in the middle of the night LOL...:nerd:

NanoNathan · Jan 18, 2013

have you dosed copper in your tank to treat ich ect?

cdness · Jan 18, 2013

If you have not treated the tank with medications like copper I think you will be ok to use it again. The chances of copper coming in from tap water is minimal, however you could have a buildup of phosphates. Since you have no algae, you are probably safe here too.

I say use it and see what happens.

Downbeach · Jan 18, 2013

Obviously the quality of your raw water, and what filtration removed from it, will have an impact on what may have built up in your tank. Can you take a piece of it and place it in another container with freshly made SW, that you know has no nutrients in it, i.e. PO4, etc., then check it in a few days for PO4?

zoechance · Jan 18, 2013

Hi, WOW! thanks for your answers. I did treat the tank for Ick and cant remember what I used as it was like 5-6 years ago. It was give x1 treatment and then the ick was gone (i am lucky). gGven that it has been so much time should I still be concerned about copper?

Pkunk35 · Jan 18, 2013

FWIW I live in LA and i used tap for a couple years before i switched over to RO water and and no issues with invertebrate at all after the switch, so I would think your rocks would be ok.

jedimasterben · Jan 18, 2013

You're most likely fine - if you are worried, though, you can simply run a little bag of Cuprisorb from Seachem to remove any trace copper that could leach (just set it somewhere in the tank/sump and forget about it) and run a phosphate remover if you notice algae start popping up.

zoechance · Jan 18, 2013

thank you jeddimasterben; thank you all! I will get cuprisorb and I am in no rush with getting my tank ready for livestock. On monday we will plumb and fill with water and and sand and LR. I will use chemipure elite and have a phos reactor with GFO; 2 MP40s and just do water changes and let the tank run many weeks before adding livestock...