copper recovery / recharge tank

[perchpsk]

Well here's the story. About a year ago I was new to the hobby and had a 55 gallon beginner reef with live rock, mushroom rock, tons of copenpods, brittle stars, snails, linkia and ch chip stars and a generally healthy aquarium. I had a sick fish and the lfs told me to dose the aquarium with a few medications which i didnt know but they contained copper. long story short i killed my inverts, copenpods, live rock etc... i learned my lesson and have done many large water changes, cleaned and changed all filtration etc I have tried a few times to add snails but they died. all nitrates ammonia salinity etc are at good levels so I used seachem cuprisorb, a copper remover recently to finish off the copper. Does anyone have any good suggestions to make the tank grow and safe for inverts again? let me know what to do!!! Thanks

 

[y2says]

Once copper is in a tank, it's pretty tough to remove it. Copper will stay with the rocks, sand, and anything else. You can try using carbon.

 

[lorin]

Perchpsk, I used copper (cupramine) in my 72 gal tank with fish 2 years ago and continued to use it off and on as I added fish. A few months ago I wanted to make the tank a reef. I did large water changes over a few months and was unable to detect copper with a test kit. I placed a post here and had several responses. The end result was I could replace all the substrate and filter media, but there is no way to remove the trapped copper under the seals. The copper will leach out over time but it may take a very long time. Trace amounts of copper will kill inverts/corals. A test kit will not be able to detect trace amounts. The fact that snails are dying means that you may have copper leaching from something. Instead of investing more money into your current tank, which may fail, continue with your 75 gal reef tank and make your 55 a FO tank. I have a 29 gal reef cycling and I don’t have to worry about copper and a great 72 gal tank with a very happy triggerfish and eel. Lorin

 

[y2says]

Lorin...when you say that it will leach from the seal and it'll take a long time, how long is long?

 

[perchpsk]

So not even using Seachem Cuprisorb in all of the filtration for a month will remove the copper?... Hard to believe. I am thinking of getting rid of the crushed coral substrate and adding a live sand bed also. If the copper test comes up negative shouldnt that be enough?

 

[lorin]

Perchpsk, I am going by information I received from this site. Do a search (switch to reef after using copper) and read the posts that I received. Y2SAYS, From my post it may take 6 months to a year! Lorin

 

[nerdy]

When I had a fish only, I used cuprimine and carbon did my regular water changes and 2 weeks later I added mushrooms and they are still in the tank to this day!

 

[goldrush]

The silicone will hold copper and leech it back out indefinately. Why take a chance? A 55 today is sooo cheap.

 

[y2says]

The reason why I asked is because I sold my brother my 75g tank that was a fish only and I used copper to rid ick. Now his tank is about a year old and all his inverts and corals are still alive and thriving. He must have hundreds of baby snails growing right now. I think using carbon and doing regular water changes should keep the copper low enough so that nothing dies.