Is this true or false? Copper leached into rocks.

Miami Reef · Feb 26, 2022

@Randy Holmes-Farley

Is soaking my rocks in my swimming pool (a very large body of water) a bad idea to get the copper leached out of the rocks?

Is prime an ideal way to remove any possible chloramines from the pool once the rocks are curing in saltwater?

Edit: ignore this. I realized the pool can have nutrients inside. I’m going to do the saltwater cure with a heater, poly filters and cuprisorb!!

bruno3047 · Feb 26, 2022

Miami Reef said:
Someone told me this on a different forum saying that the rocks I have that was used to treat in copper will never get unbound and it will take “years and years” and it will eventually still leach out etc.

Here is the direct quote. Is this true or not?

“
I also spoke to a Organic Chemistry professor at UVM.

Based on my findings, the products mentioned here are effective is removing copper from the water effectively. However, the cooper must be in the water for it to be removed and all of the water must be passed through the filters. Just because you turn the system over 10 times per hour, does not mean that all of the water was filtered 10 times. In addition, the resin relies on copper to first leach out of whatever it is bonded to. And while the reducers can remove all the copper from the column water, there are no bases in thinking that all of the copper leaches out of whatever is bonded to within 6 months, as mentioned that it can take 6 months.

But there is good news. If you add copper to a system and then want the copper out, you can use copper pulling resins to remove any copper in the water column. But you have to actually keep the resin in the tank for practically an eternity. Unless electrolysis is used, you are not going to force the copper ions to leave the rock and substrate and you are relying on it leaching out. Using resin as a filter, it is a passive approach which relies on dilution. So the best you can do is once you can't detect it any more, keep leaving the resins in the system for as long as you can and at least for several years.

I hope this information can help people in the future make the right decisions. If you add copper to a reef system, yes you can remove most of it but it will be more than a simple PIA. You must be willing to commit in leaving the resin in for several years. Even a slow leach back to the water column, will eventually reach levels that corals and invertebrates will suffer. It takes parts per billion to be toxic to certain corals.”

Seeing as how most copper products warn against using them in tanks that have rocks or sand, I would say this is true. From experience, I can tell you that administering copper in a tank that has rocks and sand will cause the copper levels to be unstable as the rocks and sand absorb the copper. As far as how long it stays in the rocks or sand, that’s anyone’s guess.

“You may see a lower than expected level if you have crushed coral substrate or live rock. It is recommended that you quarantine fish in hospital tanks before entering them into your display system and when treating with any medication. As with any copper medication, it is not safe for use in a reef tank.”