Help with copper

Sweet Lew1 · Mar 5, 2020

I have a 90 gallon mixed reef. Corals started dying slowly, now they just won't survive. My ICP came back yesterday and showed my copper in my RODI of 31.33 ug/l.

My display tank has a copper reading of 219.1 ug/l. I've since changed all the RO filters and membranes and now with a copper test it reads zero. With that copper number, will I have to drain the tank and buy new rock? Thank you for any help.

AcroNem · Mar 5, 2020

So .2ppm in your display, I'd run some cuprisorb if you can find it, see if you can get it to 0 in your display. You may have issues for a while. If it's at 0 in your RO do as big of a water change as you can. Where's your source water coming from?

Sweet Lew1 · Mar 5, 2020

city water. I am running the cuprisorb now. Is that enough copper to kill coral?

AcroNem · Mar 5, 2020

Absolutely. Are your other inverts showing any reaction?

Sweet Lew1 · Mar 5, 2020

I have 2 shrimp i don't see much

Big G · Mar 5, 2020

Sweet Lew1 said:
city water. I am running the cuprisorb now. Is that enough copper to kill coral?

Lots of cities and home have copper pipes in varying levels of condition.
The problem is the sand, rock have absorbed the copper and will be slowly leaching it back out

Sweet Lew1 · Mar 5, 2020

Big G said:
Lots of cities and home have copper pipes in varying levels of condition.
The problem is the sand, rock have absorbed the copper and will be slowly leaching it back out

I'm pulling the rock out and it's bare bottom. Ordering new rock as we speak.

Big G · Mar 5, 2020

So all you have to worry about is any copper "film" that may be attached to the tank glass and in the equipment. Running Cuprisorb will take care of that. Good product. You can recharge it and use over and over again.
I usually tear down my QTs that have had copper in them and wash with vinegar. It precipitates the remaining copper into a harmless form, then rinse, rinse, rinse, and allow to completely dry.

Sweet Lew1 · Mar 5, 2020

Big G said:
So all you have to worry about is any copper "film" that may be attached to the tank glass and in the equipment. Running Cuprisorb will take care of that. Good product. You can recharge it and use over and over again.
I usually tear down my QTs that have had copper in them and wash with vinegar. It precipitates the remaining copper into a harmless form, then rinse, rinse, rinse, and allow to completely dry.

Thank you,

Sweet Lew1 · Mar 5, 2020

Sweet Lew1 said:
Thank you,

How do you recharge the cuprisorb?

piranhaman00 · Mar 5, 2020

I would just run cuprisorb for months while doing water changes.

esther · Mar 5, 2020

Sweet Lew1 said:
I have a 90 gallon mixed reef. Corals started dying slowly, now they just won't survive. My ICP came back yesterday and showed my copper in my RODI of 31.33 ug/l.

My display tank has a copper reading of 219.1 ug/l. I've since changed all the RO filters and membranes and now with a copper test it reads zero. With that copper number, will I have to drain the tank and buy new rock? Thank you for any help.

I just got our ICP test back and ours came back at 129 µg/l. I can tell you that all of our corals (both SPS & LPS) are fine and so are all of our shrimp and our one fish. Do you know for sure that's what's messing with your tank mates? We are going to use Triton Detox to lower the levels in our tank (per Triton), but honestly I don't think the Copper is the main problem. Just my 2¢. Good luck with everything and will be following along to see how everything goes.

piranhaman00 · Mar 5, 2020

esther said:
I just got our ICP test back and ours came back at 129 µg/l. I can tell you that all of our corals (both SPS & LPS) are fine and so are all of our shrimp and our one fish. Do you know for sure that's what's messing with your tank mates? We are going to use Triton Detox to lower the levels in our tank (per Triton), but honestly I don't think the Copper is the main problem. Just my 2¢. Good luck with everything and will be following along to see how everything goes.

IMO your getting really close to where problems will start. OP issue could easily be from Cu only but of course it’s impossible to tell for sure

esther · Mar 5, 2020

piranhaman00 said:
IMO your getting really close to where problems will start. OP issue could easily be from Cu only but of course it’s impossible to tell for sure

We're definitely keeping an eye on it. Doing 15% water changes every week as well as going to dose Detox. Will do another ICP test in about 5 weeks to see how the tank is doing. In the meantime, everyone is eating, polyps are extending, so I'm not hitting the panic button just yet.

Malifry97 · Mar 5, 2020

I don’t suggest throwing rock out. Just run cuprisorb while doing large water changes. Polyfilter will help. Please don’t throw out rock. It’s pointless

Big G · Mar 5, 2020

Sweet Lew1 said:
How do you recharge the cuprisorb?

You use muratic acid. Easily available at your local hardware store/Home Depot. Always where eye protection, mask, and protective gloves when using any kind of acid.