Copper in display tank

[epsteino]

how does copper affect SPS? ICP test of the display tank shows 1.178 ug/l. I am having recession of the bases of several of my corals. this has been going on for several months now.

Just ran my Hanna HR copper checker twice which showed 0.06 and then 0.02 ppm in the DT.

I tested copper twice from the RODI unit (which is reading 1 TDS) - shows 0.11 and 0.15 ppm copper in my RODI.

Is cuprisorb effective? Best method of using it?

thanks,
Oren

 

[Doctorgori]

Seachems cuprisorb works ....

 

[HOOPDEEZ]

Good catch with the ICP test, I’m interested in how it made it through the RODI. Seems like a bad filter or membrane.

 

[epsteino]

Good catch with the ICP test, I’m interested in how it made it through the RODI. Seems like a bad filter or membrane.

Yes. I have been testing 1 TDS for several months out of my RODI unit. didn't realize how BAD that is. but apparently 0 is the only TDS one should accept. Im gonna change out the unit actually to a bigger one and then test again.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

I had the same situation With my ro. I replaced all my membranes and filters. Cuprasorb worked great. I usually keep a bag running in a reactor on slow flow. It saved my tank as I had a magnet on a probe holder explode and I had no idea until I cleaned my sump. It was bad. I only test with ATI twice per year. My sps are doing really well. Good luck.

 

[epsteino]

I had the same situation With my ro. I replaced all my membranes and filters. Cuprasorb worked great. I usually keep a bag running in a reactor on slow flow. It saved my tank as I had a magnet on a probe holder explode and I had no idea until I cleaned my sump. It was bad. I only test with ATI twice per year. My sps are doing really well. Good luck.

thanks for the input. did your corals look like the pictures I attached when you had copper level sin the tank?

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

They were pale and with not good polyp extension. Once I got the cuprasorb running I had a couple corals take off. Then I found red bug, and nuked with interceptor. Now all corals are doing great. I always had a couple corals that did well, after the cuprasorb they did even better. Miyagi tort and palmers blue Millie always looked good, but really took off after removing copper. I only lost a cops 24k and a 20k lokani.

 

[Miller535]

how does copper affect SPS? ICP test of the display tank shows 1.178 ug/l. I am having recession of the bases of several of my corals. this has been going on for several months now.

Just ran my Hanna HR copper checker twice which showed 0.06 and then 0.02 ppm in the DT.

I tested copper twice from the RODI unit (which is reading 1 TDS) - shows 0.11 and 0.15 ppm copper in my RODI.

Is cuprisorb effective? Best method of using it?

thanks,
Oren

I can not answer your question about sps. But You can not test copper that low with the hannah checker. 1 ug/l is equivalent to 1 ppb. So 1.17 ug/l is 1.17 ppb. 1.17 ppb is equivalent to 0.00117 ppm.

 

[Miller535]

And the hannah checker can only measure 0-5ppm with a .05 ppm accuracy. What your tank showed through ICP is MUCH MUCH outside of the hannah checkers range. The Hannah checker is actually only useful IMO in measuring therapeutic range for treating with copper.

 

[Miller535]

I have had copper issues myself. And I prefer Triton. But I did one test with ATI because they do a free RODI test with theirs. And I treated my tank with triton detox.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

how does copper affect SPS? ICP test of the display tank shows 1.178 ug/l. I am having recession of the bases of several of my corals. this has been going on for several months now.

Just ran my Hanna HR copper checker twice which showed 0.06 and then 0.02 ppm in the DT.

I tested copper twice from the RODI unit (which is reading 1 TDS) - shows 0.11 and 0.15 ppm copper in my RODI.

Is cuprisorb effective? Best method of using it?

thanks,
Oren

I don't think that level (1 ppb) is high enough to be a problem (mine was 10x that amount when I tested it years ago, and everything seemed fine), but that assertion is imperfect as the toxicity depends on the chemical form of the copper.

The Hanna is likely not giving useful information.

 

[epsteino]

I don't think that level (1 ppb) is high enough to be a problem (mine was 10x that amount when I tested it years ago, and everything seemed fine), but that assertion is imperfect as the toxicity depends on the chemical form of the copper.

The Hanna is likely not giving useful information.

I am curious if others have used their hanna copper high range checkers on their display water. I just tested my local fish stores RODI with the hanna checker and I am getting between 0.06 and 0.1 . What do you think Randy? should I worry about my RODI water? should I just stop testing for copper all together? I have been auto topping off with RODI water that is measuring copper on the hanna.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I am curious if others have used their hanna copper high range checkers on their display water. I just tested my local fish stores RODI with the hanna checker and I am getting between 0.06 and 0.1 . What do you think Randy? should I worry about my RODI water? should I just stop testing for copper all together? I have been auto topping off with RODI water that is measuring copper on the hanna.

I would not believe it. Copper that high is very rarely reported in ICP tests, and is very close to the claimed limit of accuracy of the Hanna HI702 ( +/- 0.05 ppm).

 

[Marc2952]

I don't think that level (1 ppb) is high enough to be a problem (mine was 10x that amount when I tested it years ago, and everything seemed fine), but that assertion is imperfect as the toxicity depends on the chemical form of the copper.

The Hanna is likely not giving useful information.

Strangely enough for the past month ive been struggling with removing copper from my DT ( never used copper in my DT ) tried cuprisorb and it still stood at 0.10 on my hanna checker. Added a poly filter aswell and went down to 0.04 a week ago, checked today and its back at 0.09. Ive checked my tank 3 times already and theres nothing rusting my guess is the rock is leaching? I dont see anynother possible explanation. I did have 2 metal clamps that where rusted for a couple of months could the rock have absorbed that? My poly filter just turned brown not blue.

 

[epsteino]

Strangely enough for the past month ive been struggling with removing copper from my DT ( never used copper in my DT ) tried cuprisorb and it still stood at 0.10 on my hanna checker. Added a poly filter aswell and went down to 0.04 a week ago, checked today and its back at 0.09. Ive checked my tank 3 times already and theres nothing rusting my guess is the rock is leaching? I dont see anynother possible explanation. I did have 2 metal clamps that where rusted for a couple of months could the rock have absorbed that? My poly filter just turned brown not blue.

Yeah that’s interesting. My source of copper was my RO. I do know that copper sticks to things and can redistribute back into water. It’s so frustrating I too am using cuprisorb and am not seeing much improvement. Also I cannot seem to get the copper out using my RO system even though I changed the membranes and resins completely.

 

[epsteino]

I don't think that level (1 ppb) is high enough to be a problem (mine was 10x that amount when I tested it years ago, and everything seemed fine), but that assertion is imperfect as the toxicity depends on the chemical form of the copper.

The Hanna is likely not giving useful information.

Randy is it possible that I am reading actual copper directly out of my RO unit? I’m using the Hanna checker again and am getting 0.1. I cross checked it with distilled water from the store and it reads 0.00. This is driving me nuts!!

 

[Miller535]

Yeah that’s interesting. My source of copper was my RO. I do know that copper sticks to things and can redistribute back into water. It’s so frustrating I too am using cuprisorb and am not seeing much improvement. Also I cannot seem to get the copper out using my RO system even though I changed the membranes and resins completely.

I have used cuprisorb and got NOTHING out of it.Triton sells a product called "detox" that is excellent at removing copper.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Strangely enough for the past month ive been struggling with removing copper from my DT ( never used copper in my DT ) tried cuprisorb and it still stood at 0.10 on my hanna checker. Added a poly filter aswell and went down to 0.04 a week ago, checked today and its back at 0.09. Ive checked my tank 3 times already and theres nothing rusting my guess is the rock is leaching? I dont see anynother possible explanation. I did have 2 metal clamps that where rusted for a couple of months could the rock have absorbed that? My poly filter just turned brown not blue.

That value is indistinguishable from zero. It's not a good device for this purpose.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I have used cuprisorb and got NOTHING out of it.Triton sells a product called "detox" that is excellent at removing copper.

lol

Cuprisorb does work well for binding copper.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy is it possible that I am reading actual copper directly out of my RO unit? I’m using the Hanna checker again and am getting 0.1. I cross checked it with distilled water from the store and it reads 0.00. This is driving me nuts!!

0 ppm TDS, not likely real. If it is higher, then yes, it is possible.

The Hanna checker is near its limit of accuracy at 0.1 ppm or less.