Removing Copper

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charles-n-charge

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Aug 28, 2010
1,644
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Livingston Tx
So, I was the smart guy and didn't do enough research before performing a copper treatment on my system, and now I've found that its not easy to remove.

I added three bottles of Coppersafe (300 gallons worth) to my 375 gallon system to clear up an ich problem I was having.
I removed anything that would be affected by copper so I could treat the system, because I was unable to remove the fish themselves to quarantine.
Now that I tried to re-add the inverts and corals, all the snails died and I lost a couple corals, while the others are in bad shape.
So, the surviving inverts have been removed again, and now I'm trying to figure out how to remove the copper...

I've been doing some reading on the subject and having really found much helpful info. So if anyone can help, that would be awesome.


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Sadly it is very difficult to remove because it leachs in to all the rocks. Several companies make a heavy metal remover although I can't say how effective they are or If they are reef safe themselves.

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There's a filter pad called Pura Filter pad. It's works really well for taking out metals.
U could run it in a canister but it would still take days to help. Mayb with a large enough filter and lots of flow it could help faster

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Look into how people remove copper from their well water and try that. The rocks will, inevitably, leech out the remaining copper during water changes.
 
To remove copper:
Water changes, carbon and polyfilter (http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/3502/Poly-Filter).
It will take awhile to remove it all, and even after you get 'zero' tests, keep up with use of removers for another two weeks. Copper saturates the rock/substrate, and will leach out into the water as you lower the levels in the tank.

Some inverts are more sensative than others. It also depends on how they are exposed. Stuff that sucks on the rock (ie: snails) will be exposed to higher levels than some that just live on the rock (ie crabs, shrimp).
 
Today I bought 3 units of chemi-pure, 2 bags of cuprisorb, and an API copper test kit.

But, the test is coming back as 0, when I know there is copper in the water.

I added a large bag of carbon a few weeks ago, but I know that didn't magically remove all of the copper.

I'm assuming that I can't read the copper level in the tank because its all absorbed into the sand and rocks, but I'm not sure


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