POLL: Reef tank that once had Copper treatment: successful o

[mnonet]

Did you convert a Fish only tank to a reef tank using a tank that was ever treated with copper?
Have you had success with your reef or if not do you think the prior copper treatment might be the reason?

[ August 30, 2001: Message edited by: mnonet ]

[ August 30, 2001: Message edited by: mnonet ]

 

[GobieWanKenobie]

Copper will never leave the system once it is used. It is absorbed into the rock, sand, and possibly even the equipment. It will leach out over time and poison corals as it does. If you have a tank that has had copper used in it, keep it a FO or you will only have problems like "mysterious coral death".

 

[gazpep]

I converted my 120g FO to reef about 9 months ago. It had been treated with copper as a FO on a few occasions over a 2 year time-span. I only retained the substrate, about 2 inches in depth. I've not observed any negative reactions to date but maybe I've been lucky so far. I didn't fully appreciate what effects it could have had though and maybe still could later on.

If I was going to do it again I woul dump the substrate.

 

[mnonet]

Absolutely, I would dump the substrate. I am talking about the tank itself. Shimek claims that you can't remove the copper even from the glass walls of a tank itself. Though technically he is corrrect that some copper stays adhered to the glass, I bet that it is such a small amount that for all practical purposes it doesn't actually have negative impact on most things we grow. That is what I am trying what experience people are having.

 

[Greg Hiller]

I don't think it will be that much of a problem to reuse rock that's been in a tank treated with copper. It might of course depend upon what form of copper you used, and how much. I know from experience that the simple form of copper citrate that I cooked up in my lab would precipitate out onto gravel, sand, rock, VERY quickly, to the point of having to dose every other day to keep the level in the thereaputic (sp.) range. Materials from a tank treated this way are probably permanently poisoned.

Several years ago I started using Cupramine from SeaChem. I found that this form of copper was much more stable, and usually did not need to be re-dosed (meaning it wasn't ending up on the rock and sand). At the end of treatment a bit of carbon removed it from the water very effectively. I had some live rock in this tank during treatment, and I reused that rock in a reef tank that now grows Acropora right out of the water. www.angelfire.com/ma3/ghcorals Keep in mind that a small amount of copper coming out of the rock and sand slowly is not likely to be a problem as some critters will actually consume copper from the water (it is an essential element for many creatures).

Bottom line, try using the rock and test the water of the tank before adding any inverts. If the test shows undetectable (I'd use SeaChems kit in the lowest range possible) copper then try adding a few things. Keep in mind that many of the comments that Ron S. makes regarding the toxicity of copper on invertebrate larva are definetly true on lab experiments in nearly sterile conditions. Our tanks are a long way from these types of conditions. Our tanks have a wide variety of organisms (bacteria, sponges, etc) that to a certain extent are continuously purifying the environment.