Copper in an Aquarium

[Arc Drafter]

Hi!
I recently obtained an aquarium from a guy; he said it was brand new. I can tell he is lying; because, there is still sea floor in the tank. My question is this, is there a test kit or a way to tell if copper was ever used in the tank? I have heard that it can soak into the silicone? Does anyone have any first hand experience w/ this actually happening, or is it something that has been passed down from reefer to reefer by a friend of a guy that knows something about tanks?

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Copper does not linger in old tanks, you can rinse it out and you will be fine. I have used aquariums as QT and treated them with copper and then kept inverts in the tanks later no problem.

 

[TankStudy]

Copper does not linger in old tanks, you can rinse it out and you will be fine. I have used aquariums as QT and treated them with copper and then kept inverts in the tanks later no problem.

I do that with QT and buckets. As long as you wash and clean the tank extra well, it should be okay.

 

[Arc Drafter]

Right on that's what I figured. Thanks for all the replys.

 

[Sk8r]

Yes, if you have ANY worries, get some PolyFIlter and run it in the water for a week: the color it turns [if any] with both absorb pollutants and tell you what the pollutant is. Then your tank will be safe.

 

[Hal]

Most people seem to forget that carbon removes copper from the water.

The glass generally won't absorb any copper, so you're only worried about what leaches out of the silicon.

If you run a typical amount of carbon you should have no problem.

Once I put some inverts (snails mostly, maybe some shrimp) into my QT, after having used copper in the QT many times. They lived just fine. Of course, I was running carbon.

 

[Arc Drafter]

Thanks For all the reply's I'll let you all know what I find!