Is there a tolerance level for Copper in a REEFTANK ?

[skip0211]

A friend is chasing a copper level in his reeftank.. he has checked all the obvious areas… salt mix, rodi before and after it goes into his holding tank, brass anywhere, etc. hasn’t had this issue before.. Coupromine and poly pads come in tonight.. is there a save level he can have until it lowers?

 

[W31Olds]

Maybe a foreign object. Does he have children?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Certainly copper is a needed trace element at a specific level, but not too high due to possible tox.

Is he measuring it?

 

[skip0211]

Maybe a foreign object. Does he have children?

Randy,

He has a reading with a Hanna checker of .25

 

[skip0211]

Certainly copper is a needed trace element at a specific level, but not too high due to possible tox.

Is he measuring it?

He has a reading of .25 with a Hanna checker

 

[Miami Reef]

Hanna Checkers aren’t accurate for copper. It will shoot a random number if the copper is low enough.

The value may or may not be real. I’d get an ICP test.

Are any of the animals suffering?

 

[skip0211]

All his snails have died. No fish in the tank right now.. he moved them to a separate tank.. also has a fair amount of hair algae developed.

 

[Miami Reef]

All his snails have died. No fish in the tank right now.. he moved them to a separate tank.. also has a fair amount of hair algae developed.

I see.

There’s nothing wrong with using cuprisorb and polyfilters. I’ve removed real, highly saturated copper rocks with both of them.

I’ve had repeated ICP over the years with no trace detectable. I did the copper removal process and ICP before adding any corals and inverts.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

He has a reading of .25 with a Hanna checker

As folks have noted, that Hanna is unreliable at that level and lower. If he did not add copper in some fashion, I would not assume he has any elevated copper.

That is not to say with certainty he does not, but that checker seems to give false high values at its low end, and I would recommend icp-ms as a way to see if copper is the concern.