Tanks and copper

Loki · Jun 20, 2012

I have a glass tank that I dosed with copper once. There was no rock or substrate in the tank. Only disposable decoration. My question is what would I need to do to get this tank up and running again with inverts?

I have thought about it and there can only be a certain amount of copper in the silicone and it can only leech out so fast.

What are your thought on this? If you say don't do it, what is your reason?

wysiwyg · Jun 20, 2012

there is a poly filter that does remove copper from the water i would set it up empty and run it and check for copper. if it shows no signs of copper set up a nem tank.

Loki · Jun 20, 2012

revhtree · Jun 20, 2012

I have always heard that the copper can leach into the silicone and then back into the tank water. Not real sure to be honest on this one. Sounds like a good topic though!

swannyson7 · Jun 20, 2012

I've always heard the same thing, but I'm skeptical. It seems like a good scapegoat when things go wrong after using a tank that had copper in it. Over the years, I've never seen any definitive proof (i.e. detectable levels) after cleaning out an old hospital tank used for copper treatment.

Loki · Jun 22, 2012

I kind of have two of these threads going. They were different questions at first but have now resolved into one big experiment (if you will)

I currently have the above tank in my garage filled with RODI water only. I rinsed it out very well. I got a poly-filter today and put it in a HOB filter.

The tank has sat for two days with just the RODI. I took a sample to my LFS and they tested it for copper. It came back at 0.

Loki · Jun 22, 2012

My plan is to let the tank run for a while to see if there is more/any copper that shows up in the tank. I have a couple pieces of glass covering most of the top. I will not exchange any of the water out, but I will top it off as needed. The only thing that will be monitored will be the copper.

If there is copper the poly-filter is supposed to turn blue. If there isn't it will stay white. I will also take a sample of water down to the same LFS and have the test run again.

Let's see what happens

.

SeahorseKeeper · Jun 22, 2012

Loki2902 said:
I kind of have two of these threads going. They were different questions at first but have now resolved into one big experiment (if you will)

I currently have the above tank in my garage filled with RODI water only. I rinsed it out very well. I got a poly-filter today and put it in a HOB filter.

The tank has sat for two days with just the RODI. I took a sample to my LFS and they tested it for copper. It came back at 0.

What test kit are they using? If it is API, I would not trust it. It does test low enough to get an accurate reading. I know this from experience. Two of the pet stores I was working were having trouble with inverts and copper sensitive fish (FW). I sent a sample to my corporate office to get tested, but in the meantime I tested the copper levels with the API kit. The API kit came up zero but my corporate office found copper in the water. I had to treat the system daily with a water conditioner and that worked.

Loki · Jun 22, 2012

I believe it was an API test kit. Thank you for telling me! I will see if the lab at the hospital will test my water for me

I don't know if they will be able to but I know it's worth a shot. Thanks again!

Loki · Jul 7, 2012

Well. There is still no direct able levels of copper in the tank. So all is well. As I said I dosed the tank once with a copper based medicine and all I did was rinse it out. No detectable level of copper in the water for over two weeks now. I'm calling it all good at this point