Can a QT tank treated with copper be converted back to a reef tank?

[Peter K]

Hi all,

We finished quarantining a group of fish in our 180 with copper power and are setting up a smaller quarantine for all future fish - will the 180 be reef safe and not leach any copper once it has had a good cleaning? Was planning on using bleach in it and doing a couple rinses.

Thanks all.

 

[leedsrhinojohn]

My worry would be copper soaked into the silicon, I don't think any amount of bleach and rinsing would get rid of that.

 

[Jeff Hall]

There's copper in the ocean...So I guess it depends on how much is leached.

 

[scchase]

Yes silicone absorbs very little copper and glass next to none, that they can't be used as a reef again is one of the hobby's biggest myths. There is a whole thread here about even reusing copper exposed live rock in tanks with research and the like.

 

[JoshKReef]

Check out this post.

How To Remove Copper From DT

First of all, best practice is to NEVER dose copper in a display tank, and to use a quarantine tank. It is much easier and safer. Copper in a DT can heavily dampen your nitrogen cycle in your tank, and will leach in to your rock, substrate, and equipment. As a result, the amount of copper...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Peter K]

Thank you guys, I really appreciate the info and just checked out that post.

 

[AZMSGT]

I would get a copper checker like the Hanna and test the system you want to go with.

For what it’s worth I had an ICP test done on a brand new tank with new everything in it and it still has 0.002ppm copper. There’s always a little. Just not enough to sweat.

 

[andrewkw]

It's not a problem at all. Wash the tank out well. Vinegar will work just fine. Bleach like you mentioned too, just dry it out after using bleach. I used my hospital tank as a frag tank years and now it's actually the sump to my current frag tank. Treated with copper in it many times.

 

[mfinn]

I used copper in a 105 gallon tank to treat 15 fish.
After the fish were treated, I removed all the water and did a couple freshwater flushes.
Drained it.
Wiped it down with straight vinegar.
Filled it with water and tested it for copper daily for 2 weeks and found none.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

My worry would be copper soaked into the silicon, I don't think any amount of bleach and rinsing would get rid of that.

I do not think copper ion soaks into silicon (the blue stains from freshwater tanks is likely methylene blue), and any that did would be extremely slow to redissolve.

The bigger concern is any sort of calcium carbonate deposits or organic matter deposits, both of which can bind substantial copper and require very good cleaning to use the tank.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I used copper in a 105 gallon tank to treat 15 fish.
After the fish were treated, I removed all the water and did a couple freshwater flushes.
Drained it.
Wiped it down with straight vinegar.
Filled it with water and tested it for copper daily for 2 weeks and found none.

It was probably fine, but a copper kit cannot test low enough to ensure adequately low copper.

 

[mfinn]

It was probably fine, but a copper kit cannot test low enough to ensure adequately low copper.

I used the Hanna copper checker.
I would think they are a step above most hobbyist grade test kits.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I used the Hanna copper checker.
I would think they are a step above most hobbyist grade test kits.

Was it the HI702? It's +/- 0.05 ppm, so 50 ppb can possibly be in the water without registering any. Still, that result is far better than if it did register some.

 

[mfinn]

Was it the HI702? It's +/- 0.05 ppm, so 50 ppb can possibly be in the water without registering any. Still, that result is far better than if it did register some.

Yes