copper testing with Red sea test

[ezhoops]

I've been trying to test copper levels in my QT to control and kill ich. I bought a red sea test kit and it is in the usable expiration date. when I test the colors I get are very very light. The card shows a definte color and when I test I get a light color nothing even close to the dark color they show. It says to hold it 8" above a white surface and still nothing very dark. I tested 3 times and even tested my DT and when I tested my DT the color was clear (meaning no color) when the card says no copper should show green. anyone have any ideas or the same experience?

 

[LargeAngels]

Years ago I used Red Sea copper test all the time and had very good results. Then they made changes to the product and after that all it did for me was to give me a positive for copper, but the color never changed no matter what concentration of copper was in the water. I contacted Red Sea and of course they said their product works just fine and that was that. I never used it since.

 

[rinconmike]

I am in the same boat on the colors. I have added enough cupramine where I should be around .3 now.

The colors I get are shades of blue. From light blue to a darker light blue (as I added more cupramine). I am wondering if I will ever get purple of if the colors are blue instead of purple.

thanks,

Mike

 

[Chris27]

What type of copper are you trying to read? Chelated and ionic copper require different test kits, Red Sea reads ionic, and also works with Cupramine.

If you have any calcareous material in the tank like sand or rock, getting the concentration up at first may be a bit of a task.

 

[rinconmike]

I am using cupramine.

thanks

 

[rinconmike]

We tested with a seachem test and that shows very liuttle. However, using the refernce test it also shows little so I am wondering if the seachem is bad.

Anyone have an idea of how much the sand will soak up? Theoretically, my 150 gallon tank should take 6 cap fulls to get to .5. I added:

3 caps day 1,
skipped day 2,
1 cap day 3,
1 cap day 4,
skipped day 5,
and plan on adding 1 cap day 6 for a total of 6 caps.

I really only need to be at .35 but am shooting in the dark with not being able to effectively read the tests.

The fish seem fine, including the puffer and eel that are sensitive to copper.

thanks,

Mike