Removing Copper and other heavy metal

[1nefertari1]

Hi all,

Made a stupid mistake of using a brass connector component in the plumbing for my 90 gal... just found out this issue after 40 days of cycling T-T. The tank was cycled with dry marco rock and live sand.

Tested copper to be at 0.35ppm with hr hanna checker (it might be inaccurate but inverts & corals will die immediately so there is a deadly amount in there) and I assume that there might be some other heavy metals that also leached into the water...

My question is that will I be able to make things right by doing a huge water change and using Cuprisorb + poly filter until copper tests 0, and then run a ICP test to make sure others are also depleted? Or do I need to swap out the sand and rocks, since i've read that they might absorb heavy metal elements...

Any help will be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The Hanna appears to be seriously inaccurate at the low end and seems to show far more than is present. Thus, you may not have a problem. The value also seems excessive to me from what you report happened.

However, if there, the best way to remove it is with a copper binder such as cuprisorb, metasorb or a polyfilter.