Can I get rid of copper?

[luv2dive]

Has anyone ever had a system with copper poisoning and successfully removed it all and had thriving reef again?

I have never added copper in this tank but might have put a rock or something in that might have been in a copper tank at one time, I'm really not sure. 99 percent of the people here seem to think I have copper in the tank even though it tests negative for copper. I have tested everything else and all is normal. I am starting to also think it might be copper as well since all of the fish are fat and happy and I cant keep a snail or any kind of coral alive. I have ruled out everything else so I am left with a possible copper problem. If I keep doing water changes, can I get it out eventually? I've been doing water changes once a month for the past 6 months and every week for the past month and still can't keep snails or coral alive. Since the copper test is negative, I'm guessing there are just trace amounts but obviously still enought to kill. And I would really like to get it out since there is about 300 lbs of live rock in the tank. If not, can I discard all the rock and sand, drain the system and start a new cycle over and be rid of the copper forever or will it absorb into the glass or plastic parts in the tank and come back to haunt me?

Please help me I'm desperate! If you look at my gallery you can see the amount of live rock and how large it is. I have allot invested as you will see and I want to do it right.

[aaron23]

i've read the past couple of months that there's practically no way of eradicating copper from the system. for ex. if you have sand or live rock in the tank it will soak into the rock or sand making it nearly impossible to remove the copper. Just what i've read. :\ hope it helps

if you test for copper and have no visible amoutns of it using a test kit then it wont be copper. What are your other parameters?
Aaron.

[Pyrrhus]

copper is toxic to inverts at levels far below the detection limit of hobby test kits.

[rshimek]

Hi,

As has been pointed out, copper may be lethal to some inverts at levels well below those detectable by hobbyist test kits.

The presence of copper adsorbed on reef aquarium walls is certainly a "gift that keeps on giving." The problems that it causes and the treatment have been discussed commonly in this forum, but not too much in the recent past. You might do a search of this forum using "copper" and "decontamination" as the search key words.

The bottom line, though, is that if your system is contaminated with this poison, the only real solution is to discard all substrates and live rock, and then to decontaiminate the the tank and all the plumbing, and start over from scratch.

This is either costly or time consuming or both. The decontamination procedure also involves dealing with strong acids and bases and is hazardous. As a result, it is often easier (and safer) to start over with a new tank, plumbing, etc.

Sorry for the bad news.

[Paul B]

I have a different opinion. You think you may have put in a rock that may have been treated with copper.
I doubt this would constitute a large problem. My still running reef ran continousely with copper in it for a few years. In the seventees most of us had fish only tanks and we needed copper because all fish had ich. I am still using that same gravel and a lot of that rock. It was a long time ago but since you are saying that you think you may have one rock that was treated with copper, I would just keep a Poly Filter or some carbon in there for a few months. If there is copper in there anemones will close up almost immediately. Of course you could remove everything and start over but I would do a small test first.
Good luck.
Paul

[kevin2000]

Before you start tossing your aquarium you should do some more research ... I suspect the vast majority of experienced aquarist would agree that keeping a calcium carbonate substrate or live rock doesn't make much of sense .. on the other hand the degree of contamination of the tank itself is debatable and the steps required to "decontaminate" it are also debatable. Many aquarist simple soak those tanks in an acidic mixture of muratic acid/water ... a std procedure used by many aquarist who purchase used tanks used primarily to get rid of the old coralline algae.