Coper contact from VHO end cap in Aquarium...

[NKTHEKILLER]

Last night, as I was changing the bulbs on the vhos, I saw a copper piece of the endcap, that had corroded half way (about 4mmx3mm) fall into my 10yr old reef....:mad2:

I freaked out and ripped the 30lb rock out of the tank...after explaining to my fireend my fear on the coper in the tank, he informed me that I was thinking of copper medicine and that is eltro-particles of copper in the billion parts, and he thinks I over reacted to the whole situation....

:idea:What do the advance aquairum reefers think about this piece of copper staying in the tank, and how much damage would you think it would cause?


My tank specs: 180 dual overflow, 2 100w led 14k, 2 vho 48 actinics, 60g refuge and custom skimmer, 400lbs of live rock, 200lbs of sand...a decade established.

[MrTuskfish]

Almost all salt mixes have some copper, with your water volume, I can't imagine a problem. Run some carbon or Cuprisorb if it makes you sleep better.

[lordofthereef]

I agree with Tuskfish. So what was your rationale for removing the 30lb rock? is that where the copper thing landed? I am just trying to understand where "ripped the 30lb rock out of the tank" came from. :)

[NKTHEKILLER]

Yeah, I had a large rock, with fingers reaching up, and the copper fell into the rock like a net, so I knew if the rock was removed, It would remove the foreign matter....

At first, as I had the rock hanging over the tank, my 6line wrasse decided it was not going to leave the rock, so it ended up jumping from the tank, and scooting under the tank, my wife then quickly found the closest thing to her and pulled him out, and I put him back into the tank, he slowly scooted around my arm, picking at my skin, then swam off, the fish lives!

Back to the rock, SO then I begin to put this rock into the 10 gallons of freshly made salt water to try to pan for the piece of copper, and I sudden realize I can fit it deep enough into the trash can to get it into the water.... So I end up evicting my wife’s Heirloom Quilts from her plastic container in the closet....(just fyi, bad idea)

After panning for a hour, and getting nothing, I smashing the whole rock into piece, washing them individually, collecting the purple goobers and the rest of the tonga fragments went into the refugium.

I love it when this hobbie is relaxing :)

[NKTHEKILLER]

<img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-753" title="tank" src="http://www.dedesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/tank-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I disagree with the off the cuff assertion that all will be fine because salt mixes have copper. They have hundreds to thousands of times less than might be added here. Let's do some math, instead of just guessing.

A 4 mm x 3 mm x 3? mm piece of copper is about 36 mm3. That is 0.036 cm3. Copper has a density of about 9 g/cm3, so that piece weighs 0.32 grams, or 324 mg.

Assume the total water volume is 200 gallons (757 liters), then that amount of copper has the potential to raise the copper concentration to a whopping 0.43 ppm.

IMO, that is a seriously high amount IF it all got into the water at once. It is about 40 times the amount in my tank, and far higher than I'd like.

That said, it will likely corrode over time, so if you continually export copper via various means such as Cuprisorb, a polyfilter, and heavy skimming, then it probably can be kept in check.

But I'd very strongly advise running one of the first two aggressively for a while.

[NKTHEKILLER]

Randy youre my hero!

[MrTuskfish]

I disagree with the off the cuff assertion that all will be fine because salt mixes have copper. They have hundreds to thousands of times less than might be added here. Let's do some math, instead of just guessing.

A 4 mm x 3 mm x 3? mm piece of copper is about 36 mm3. That is 0.036 cm3. Copper has a density of about 9 g/cm3, so that piece weighs 0.32 grams, or 324 mg.

Assume the total water volume is 200 gallons (757 liters), then that amount of copper has the potential to raise the copper concentration to a whopping 0.43 ppm.

IMO, that is a seriously high amount IF it all got into the water at once. It is about 40 times the amount in my tank, and far higher than I'd like.

That said, it will likely corrode over time, so if you continually export copper via various means such as Cuprisorb, a polyfilter, and heavy skimming, then it probably can be kept in check.

But I'd very strongly advise running one of the first two aggressively for a while.

I have to read closer, missed the red print and assumed the copper piece was now out....sorry!

[NKTHEKILLER]

No, the copper is gone from the tank, I was just looking for someone to tell me that my madness in removing the live rock and such was a justifiable effort to save the tank....

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Oh, I didn't realize that you had found it. That's good. :)

[MrTuskfish]

I respectfully retract my correction in post #8.