0.10 Copper level in Reef Tank

[Soilworker]

So unfortunately I lost two invertabrates over the weekend, one was a starfish and the other was a hitchhiker gorilla crab I had in the sump. I decided to test my copper with the Hanna Copper checker and it came back at 0.10. Is this high enough to cause damage\death to invertebrates? What should my next steps be? I'm planning on doing a 25% water change today. Not sure where the copper is coming from, I tested my RODI water and it was 0 for copper.

 

[Soilworker]

From here https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/what-is-toxic-level-of-copper.758471/post-7961172 there is a link to this article: Use of Copper in Marine Aquaculture and Aquarium Systems. It says the following:

copper bound to substrate (e.g., coral, shells, decorations) may be released if pH drops or other changes in water quality parameters occur

I've been struggling with my pH in the tank. It is running at around 7.6-7.7. It sounds like this could possibly be the cause of my detectable copper levels.

I have Tropic Marin's All For Reef arriving tomorrow and I'm going to try to target an Alkalinity of 9-9.5, right now I'm sitting at around 7.5. Hopefully this will increase my pH? I'm also going to run my skimmer air line outside.

Thoughts?

 

[Hydrored]

All for reef will not increase your PH, if you are concerned with copper test you can put a bag of cuprisorb in your sump and I would send an ICP test before doing any major changes.

ALK of 7.5 is perfectly acceptable and is what I find my tank runs best at.

Good luck

 

[Soilworker]

All for reef will not increase your PH, if you are concerned with copper test you can put a bag of cuprisorb in your sump and I would send an ICP test before doing any major changes.

ALK of 7.5 is perfectly acceptable and is what I find my tank runs best at.

Good luck

Won't the increased alkalinity increase pH? From my understanding this is the level of calcium carbonate in the tank and higher calcium carbonate should correlate to a higher pH. Not sure if that's correct but it's what my current understanding is.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Hydrored]

Won't the increased alkalinity increase pH? From my understanding this is the level of calcium carbonate in the tank and higher calcium carbonate should correlate to a higher pH. Not sure if that's correct but it's what my current understanding is.

Thanks for the reply!

sure, but I wouldn’t run higher alk to try and achieve a higher PH was my point. I run at 7.5 alk with a PH hitting highs of 8.44 with ESV 2 part, an air exchanger, and a line running from my skimmer to outside