Copper in tank - What can be saved and what needs scrapped?

[dougs280z]

I am taking down my tank and going to do a thorough cleaning and basically going to start fresh. My question is what can be saved, what can be cleaned/reused, and what is a total loss. Are my live rocks still useable? Can I "cook" them and reuse them or does that not take copper out? I've heard of using muratic acid, but not sure the process of it.

Do i need to use acid on the tank/sump, or is a general cleaning good enough? How about pumps/skimmers/filter etc? Any help is appreciated as this is going to be a major process. Thanks.

 

[Tripod1404]

Copper absorb into rocks, sand and the silicon seams of the tank. I personally dont use anything that touched copper in a tank with inverts because I dont trust any method will be able to remove it once it is absorbed.

 

[Uncle99]

+1
Play it safe

 

[andrewkw]

Everything artificial should be fine. You can clean your tank, sump, pumps heaters ect with vinegar but rock and sand would need to be acid washed.

I use a former qt tank as a frag tank and no issues. I cleaned it well but it had copper in it several times for years before it's current use.

 

[dougs280z]

Everything artificial should be fine. You can clean your tank, sump, pumps heaters ect with vinegar but rock and sand would need to be acid washed.

I use a former qt tank as a frag tank and no issues. I cleaned it well but it had copper in it several times for years before it's current use.

I plan on getting new rock/sand, but I definitely plan on reusing my tanks and a few of the pumps. Do you know what ratio of vinegar you used to clean? I would like to reuse some of my live rock, but understand if it takes some time to get the copper out. I figured it might be worth a try to acid wash them and then continue to cook them and check copper levels as I go. I'd hate to have to throw it all out.

 

[norfolkgarden]

What about running the tank with the live rock you want to keep with copper absorption pads for a month or until the pads/resin no longer changes color?
Is this feasible?

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[Uncle99]

Vinegar is weak so full or half strength is fine

 

[Dmorty217]

I have used copper in my tank about 2 years ago and still use the same rock to this day. The few inverts I have are fine. I didn't do anything special to the rock or sand except I used a water conditioner after the tank was restarted after losing everything

 

[PatW]

You can wash the copper tainted tank and equipment with RODI water made up to be about 5% muriatic acid. Being a strong acid, it will strip out the copper much more effectively. But it is trickier to handle. Vinegar should do the job but just a bit slower.

 

[ca1ore]

Tank will be fine; silicone does not absorb copper.