Copper in my water?

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Kaosu

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
May 8, 2010
2,279
22
38
Washington State
ok...so i was told my a LFS that is out of town...that the water in my town has allot of copper in it..i have been looking threw the sites for out water treatment and have not found anything on it...

so questions.....
How do i test for copper(i have lost 10 of my 12 rcs)
how would i go about removing copper?

(took a water sample all is good)
 
anyone?
 
Wouldn't doubt copper, inverts are first to take the hit on that since they are much more sensitive to the levels than fish.
RO/DI system should remove copper as long as your tds reading on it is fine, your good. Since you need a treatment now though, putting activated carbon in your filter can only help treat the copper in the water. Problem is copper if high enough will absorb into your glass and that can't really be removed by that.

I know we are talking freshwater with red cherry shrimp, but that is why many people use separate tanks for copper treatment in saltwater unless fish only (since in the display it would kill inverts and soak into lr) and will advise others before selling the tank due to the fact that copper can absorb into the glass and get stuck in the silicone.
 
unannon;5031693; said:
Wouldn't doubt copper, inverts are first to take the hit on that since they are much more sensitive to the levels than fish.
RO/DI system should remove copper as long as your tds reading on it is fine, your good. Since you need a treatment now though, putting activated carbon in your filter can only help treat the copper in the water. Problem is copper if high enough will absorb into your glass and that can't really be removed by that.

I know we are talking freshwater with red cherry shrimp, but that is why many people use separate tanks for copper treatment in saltwater unless fish only (since in the display it would kill inverts and soak into lr) and will advise others before selling the tank due to the fact that copper can absorb into the glass and get stuck in the silicone.

thank you for the response, i changed out the filter cartage with new carbon, i left the old one in the tank for now, its a 3 gallon and i don't want a mini cycle ....hmm ill keep an eye on how the last two do for now and see if if gets any better, they were given to me ad were adults so maybe old age but after hearing about the copper...*sigh*...im thinking of buying gallons of water i can get distilled water for .35 cents each so...maybe i dunno yet.
 
You are most welcome. I bought distilled for my smaller setup when I ran it. I meant just adding carbon to your existing filter as removing the cartridge would set a minicycle because it probably holds a lot of bio as you stated. For this I usually just have carbon and pour it in pantyhose when I need to add it (rinsed before hand to get dust out of it and activate it). Sounds funny but it works, just as pillow stuffing does for filter floss. As far as red cherry shrimp themselves, the little ones are much more hardy than adults. That is why when people ship them they will ship you smaller ones. They aren't trying to rip anyone off, the big ones just die off in shipping most the time.
 
unannon;5031865; said:
You are most welcome. I bought distilled for my smaller setup when I ran it. I meant just adding carbon to your existing filter as removing the cartridge would set a minicycle because it probably holds a lot of bio as you stated. For this I usually just have carbon and pour it in pantyhose when I need to add it (rinsed before hand to get dust out of it and activate it). Sounds funny but it works, just as pillow stuffing does for filter floss. As far as red cherry shrimp themselves, the little ones are much more hardy than adults. That is why when people ship them they will ship you smaller ones. They aren't trying to rip anyone off, the big ones just die off in shipping most the time.


yeah i use pillow batting in most of my other tanks..
this tannk is being ran off a small 3-5 gallon filter powered by a bubbler, and i dont have any spare carbon other than what came in the small filter, ill pick some up on pay day.
These guys were free given to me by a nice couple on craighslist, along with three nice corys(given to a friend) a glass cat and a hole bunch of random plants .enough to fill my 10 gallon, and as i was leaving he gave me a neat 40 gallon long with a tinted back...and two 10 gallons..one with a light/lid^_^ so even if i lose all the shrimp (hope not) i till made of with a deal
...but i like the shrimp and would like to add more if i can get these last gals to live..i had a few males but none made it.
 
there's a product called cuprisorb by seachem? It's an ion exchange resin that you leave inside your filter. it'll turn blue as it absorbs the copper or heavy metals out of your water.
 
dookie;5031878; said:
there's a product called cuprisorb by seachem? It's an ion exchange resin that you leave inside your filter. it'll turn blue as it absorbs the copper or heavy metals out of your water.

This is what i was looking for!
tytytytytytyt!!!!
 
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