A Huge Screw-up

[Tuton]

My dad and I have just built a new sump and we istalled it on Sunday.
We added about 20 gallons of water to the tank which is what I thought was making my corals close up.
It turns out when the new pump we got had a different fitting than the old one, my dad (who has no aquarium experiance) used a brass fitting to make the connection.
Now my tank is probably full of copper and am doing a 20gallon water change 2marO and was looking for other ways to remove copper from my system???

 

[aandfsoccr04]

I'd probably get a copper test to test the water to make sure that copper is the problem.

 

[teo241]

A polyfilter is a good way to pull copper out.

Agree with the above advice to test.

 

[lhm nole]

Cuprisorb removes copper the best and can be recharged

 

[zakstrong]

keep an eye on your other parameters. Copper is a killer obviously, but the reason i say it could be something else.. i did tank maintenance during high school and on my first visit to a new customers tank i noticed that he had a tee going to brass valve draining to a huge.. the tank had been up for over a year with corals and all in it. no noticeable ill effects. of course i changed it out immediately.

i would be curious as to how much copper is released by water flowing through a brass valve. its around 60 percent copper in brass.

good luck

 

[NH Fish]

Whats the difference between this and the copper pipes you have going through your house?

 

[sslak]

Whats the difference between this and the copper pipes you have going through your house?

None.

That's why you don't put water into your tank from those copper pipes without first running the water through your RO/DI system.

Do people seriously still use tap water for reef tanks?

 

[disc1]

Whats the difference between this and the copper pipes you have going through your house?

Plus the fact that salt water is a whole lot more corrosive to copper than the fresh water in the pipes. So the poisoning happens a lot faster.

 

[usmc121581]

None.


Do people seriously still use tap water for reef tanks?

I have ssen and heard of people around my that do this exact thing. I myself will never ever do it.

 

[buffalo123]

First test for copper, You may find it to be fine.

 

[Ron Reefman]

First test for copper, You may find it to be fine.

+1

I don't know how long the brass was in the system, but I seriously doubt you'll have a problem. I had 2 small brass elbows in the anti siphon holes of my 2 returns. So I had water flowing thru them all the time. They were on the tank for a year. There was very little corrosion, I had no issues, I bought a copper test kit and it was zero. I even took a sample to a water test site and they found no copper. And if the water flowing thru copper pipes was an issue, nobody would have copper pipes left! Just my 2 cents worth. I know copper is a serious issue, and if I were you I'd pull the pump, test the water and maybe even do a water change or two. But I'll bet you'll find no copper in your water and you'll have no issues with any of your critters.

 

[disc1]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2104096

If you haven't found it already.

 

[Wills612]

What type is silicone did you use, and how long did you let it cure? Did pops use any pipe dope or anything on the fitting?