copper

[shawn]

Will copper kill corals?Have a tank that was treated with copperand want to use it as a frag tank.

 

[Awibrandy]

It is never a good idea to use any tank that has been treated with copper for anything other then fish.

I had litely treated my fowlr with CopperSafe a few years ago. Then treated it w/cupisorb, carbon, polypads, and tons of water changes. I have thrown in there some soft corals, shrooms, and palys that are doing ok. I also throw in my hermits, and some snails. A couple of the hermits died, the rest are doing ok. But when I put my harley in there it died immediately.
I don't dare put anything in there that I care about.

 

[sjsoto]

1+ agrees with "awibrandy"...
although i think the medication is still present in rocks and not tank it self...

shawn try washing with vinegar and run tank with carbon like many have done and start with less expensive corals,

i would just buy a brand new aga since its for corals and use the one you have for a qt tank...

 

[NYreefNoob]

i wouldnt chance it, never understood how it would hurt it though, not like it absorbs into the glass and if the silicone was porus enough to hold it, that means eventually water would leak through silicone, but personally i wouldnt chance it

 

[InfernoST]

You could fill it with water for a couple of days and test the water with a test kit and see if there is any copper present.

 

[Awibrandy]

You could fill it with water for a couple of days and test the water with a test kit and see if there is any copper present.

Inferno this test will always come out negative in my fowlr, yet any shrimp you put in it will be dead in minutes. Not a good idea as traces do not show up in these test..

 

[InfernoST]

Inferno this test will always come out negative in my fowlr, yet any shrimp you put in it will be dead in minutes. Not a good idea as traces do not show up in these test..

Gotcha. Then what is the sense of these copper test kits?

 

[Awibrandy]

Gotcha. Then what is the sense of these copper test kits?

Copper test kits are mostly used to monitor the amount of copper while treating with copper.

 

[InfernoST]

I never used the stuff because of these problems. After you explained it, it now makes sense.

 

[Awibrandy]

It is best to treat animals in seperate tanks, bowls what ever other then your display tanks.
I treated in my fowlr because I had no intention of ever using it for anything other then a fowlr. The corals that I have placed in there are rejects out of my reef.;-)

 

[noelskii]

i had corals that did fine in a copper treated tank before. i had them in a 30g tank for 6 months with no issues, but maybe coz it was only for 6 months..:scratchch

 

[Awibrandy]

i had corals that did fine in a copper treated tank before. i had them in a 30g tank for 6 months with no issues, but maybe coz it was only for 6 months..:scratchch

Noel, please specify what corals they were! We don't want people thinking that it is ok, and they go out get some high end corals put them in a tank that was treated with copper only to find them dead.
I have coral in my fowlr that was treated w/copper now, and most are ok.
I had 2 sinularia finger leather (1 died just 2 days ago after 1 year), the palys, shrooms, anemonies, and a kenya tree that isn't growing. I even have hermits in this tank, but the one shrimp I put in died almost instantly.
So again, It is not a good idea to use a tank that has been treated with copper (no matter how little) for corals. Unless they are corals you don't care about, and even then you have to stop and think "they are living animals"....

 

[da5speed]

Not sure how star fish are effected but i found a star fish and 2 snails in a tank that was treated with copper, they even lasted for a month after i turned off the heater and just kept the powerhead on cause i didnt have the time to break down the tank. And copper test was get to have when treating the fish.