Question about copper

[anemi]

Lo All

I am in the process of converting my current tropical tank over to SW, and after spending many hours reading these forums and others onthe web, think that Im almost ready to take the plundge.

About a year ago I had an outbreak of the dreaded whitespot in the tank and used Interpet anti whitespot treatment(not sure if this contained copper but from what i have read most whitespot treatments do).

Someone pointed out that copper penetrates the decor of a tank, and could possibly penetrated into the silicone, Is this possible??

If so, as the treatment was nearly a year ago do you think that there is a risk that some still remains iin the silicone and can i remove it??? (maybe with polyfilter)

TIA

 

[TekCat]

I am not an expert, but I'd fill the tank with water, and after it sits for a week I'd test for copper.

 

[Paintbug]

your right the copper will penetrate the glass and silicone of your tank. chances are you will not get a copper test kit to measure anything. it doesnt take much copper to make your SW experince suck. now all is not loss here. what copper effects is the inverts. things like snails, crabs, some corals, etc. you can use muric (sp?) acid to clean the tank and rid it of copper, or just use the tank for a FO setup. theres a couple of articles in the Chemistry forum about removing copper with the acid. you may want to check it out.

 

[Scuba_Steve]

[welcome]
sucks that your in this dilemma. copper can kill your invert years down the line with many tank flushes. as said above, go check out the chem forum.