removing copper

[eleyan]

has anyone here use CupriSorb to remove copper from tank after treatment:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4185&D=cupper&R=14574&Ntt= cupper&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode+ma tchallpartial&Np=1&N=2004
or is there another product that you have used that works pretty good? and is it available locally?

[Tim Marvin]

The best thing to do is just get a new tank set-up. I'm not sure you can ever get all the copper out.

[eleyan]

This is a FO tank, I only wanted to make is safe enugh to add snails and hermits.

[Tim Marvin]

Hmmm, not sure. Obviously the fish would do fine. I'd try it out a couple times and see.

[Richard]

I've never used cuprisorb but I did have someone tell me something negative about it sometime ago. I don't remember what it was or know if it was true or not.

Carbon or Polyfilters are very good at removing copper. Poly filters are nice because they turn green or blue/green when they remove copper.

How long you need to run either carbon or polyfilters depends on what type of copper you used. Ionic copper (copper sulfate) is very easy to remove and would not cause you any long term problems. Chelated coppers are the ones that can ruin a tank if you use them repeatedly. They tend to be absorbed into the silicone and everything else and then leach copper out for a long time. This is usually only a problem if you have treated the tank many times, or so I'm told. Most all of the copper treatments sold are some type of chelated copper.

In either case it is free copper that is effective in treating parasites and free copper will bond with carbonates to form copper carbonate. There is no way to remove copper carbonate. Copper carbonate is insoluble at higher ph's and will not harm inverts. I think the ph has to drop to/below 7.0 for the copper to be released. All of the salt mixes contain some level of copper so I would imagine that every tank has accumulated some amount of copper carbonate. If you manage to get the ph of saltwater below 7 then copper will be the least of your problems.

I'm no chemist so this is just my understanding from what I have read. What I do know for sure is that I have treated FO tanks with copper (chelated and ionic) and then decided to turn them into reefs. I just ran carbon for a few weeks or so then then stocked corals with no problems.

[eleyan]

I used OdinEx copper that I got from Aquatek. I think its copper sulfate and they recomended polyfilter to get rid of it.
I posted the same question on reefcentral and got some helpful answers there too if anyone is iterested, here is the thread:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=383847