How often to check copper level?

Eye H8 Empty V · Oct 17, 2022

So I’m on day 2 of my first QT tank. How often should I be checking the copper level? I raised it in 3 doses over 24 hours and as of tonight I’m at 2.57ppm according to my Hanna checker.

Will Copper Safe diminish over time? It says it doesn’t on the bottle.

Also, how often should I perform water changes?

Thanks!

vetteguy53081 · Oct 17, 2022

Eye H8 Empty V said:
So I’m on day 2 of my first QT tank. How often should I be checking the copper level? I raised it in 3 doses over 24 hours and as of tonight I’m at 2.57ppm according to my Hanna checker.

Will Copper Safe diminish over time? It says it doesn’t on the bottle.

Also, how often should I perform water changes?

Thanks!

Change water as ammonia rises to .035 or more and monitor levels every 2-3 days as copper stays steady until water is changed

bnord · Oct 17, 2022

Hope you have a Hanna for Cu - its accurate, easy and fun to see if you can nail the target, and you HAVE to check after water changes - i use one of those ammonia “badges” to keep eye on things

Cu needs to be consistent if you want to keep the treatment as short as prescribed

Bestest of luck

Jay Hemdal · Oct 18, 2022

Eye H8 Empty V said:
So I’m on day 2 of my first QT tank. How often should I be checking the copper level? I raised it in 3 doses over 24 hours and as of tonight I’m at 2.57ppm according to my Hanna checker.

Will Copper Safe diminish over time? It says it doesn’t on the bottle.

Also, how often should I perform water changes?

Thanks!

The tank is pretty murky, with particles of food floating around. That is a lot of fish for one small QT, did you use any active media to start the biofilter? I'm worried that you are going to run into a severe ammonia/water quality issue here. Follow what @vetteguy53081 said, but be prepared to add bacteria in a bottle and maybe ammonia removers to keep that low.

Jay

Jay

Miami Reef · Oct 18, 2022

Yikes, looks like the tank has a bacteria bloom. Definitely increase surface agitation. Remove uneaten food and only feed what your fish will eat.

Eye H8 Empty V · Oct 18, 2022

bnord said:
Hope you have a Hanna for Cu - its accurate, easy and fun to see if you can nail the target, and you HAVE to check after water changes - i use one of those ammonia “badges” to keep eye on things

Cu needs to be consistent if you want to keep the treatment as short as prescribed

Bestest of luck

I do have a Hanna checker and ammonia badge. What is too high a cu level? Should it be right at 2.5 ppm or is 2.57 ppm okay? I always though the tank volume was 28gal as I got it used and that’s what the previous owner told me. I looked it up last night and it’s actually 33. That explains why my cu dosing calculation was too low when I started.

Thanks!

Billy

Eye H8 Empty V · Oct 18, 2022

Jay Hemdal said:
The tank is pretty murky, with particles of food floating around. That is a lot of fish for one small QT, did you use any active media to start the biofilter? I'm worried that you are going to run into a severe ammonia/water quality issue here. Follow what @vetteguy53081 said, but be prepared to add bacteria in a bottle and maybe ammonia removers to keep that low.

Jay

Jay

I did seed it with microbacter 7 but possibly not enough. The size of the tank is 33 gallons. I figured that would be large enough considering their size. I’ll be pulling out a pair of clowns and placing them in my office tank since they’ll be the only inhabitants and look super healthy.

The tank is in my garage and the temp spiked to 86 yesterday, yikes! I’m guessing this contributed heavily to the bacteria bloom. When I found out I tried to slowly bring it down with bags of ice and leaving the tank lid and garage door open all day. It also doesn’t help that it’s got a 150w metal halide. The lights will stay off until I convert it to LED’s as I’m sure that’s contributing to the temp spike. The outdoor temp dropped to the mid 60’s today so I’m going to try to bring it down more allowing the garage to cool down and let the heater/controller maintain the temp properly. The garage is fully insulated and it’s been hot and humid out here in Tejas.

There is an ammonia badge in the tank it and was <0.02 ppm until this morning. It got up to about 0.04 ppm so I did a 50% water change and added a bunch more microbacter 7. I’m out of reagents until later today and I’m sure the cu level has dropped to <1.3 ppm from the WC.

I’m not familiar with ammonia removers. Any recommendation is appreciated.

So moving forward, and of course I’m open to advice, the plan is:

Today
1. Transfer a pair of clown to office tank
2. Monitor activity for the next day and refrain from dosing
3. Add more nitrifying bacteria

Tomorrow
4. Start dosing copper over a 24 hour period raising it to 2.5 ppm then follow the 64 day guide on R2R.

Does this look like a sound/logical plan or is there a better way?

Thanks everyone!

Billy

Jay Hemdal · Oct 18, 2022

Personally , I wouldn’t break quarantine by moving the clowns out unless you absolutely need to for some reason.
Jay

Eye H8 Empty V · Oct 18, 2022

Jay Hemdal said:
Personally , I wouldn’t break quarantine by moving the clowns out unless you absolutely need to for some reason.
Jay

I'm only 1 day in and did a 50% water change in order to bring ammonia down. So it l'm starting over regardless. Thanks though!

Billy

bnord · Oct 18, 2022

Eye H8 Empty V said:
I do have a Hanna checker and ammonia badge. What is too high a cu level? Should it be right at 2.5 ppm or is 2.57 ppm okay? I always though the tank volume was 28gal as I got it used and that’s what the previous owner told me. I looked it up last night and it’s actually 33. That explains why my cu dosing calculation was too low when I started.

Thanks!

Billy

you are well within intra-test variation - I would say well done, spot on !

vetteguy53081 · Oct 18, 2022

Eye H8 Empty V said:
I'm only 1 day in and did a 50% water change in order to bring ammonia down. So it l'm starting over regardless. Thanks though!

Billy

Yes cycle begins when you set that therapuetic level and mainyain it.