NitroxBreather
New member
I have a interesting story for those interested in accidental science. This last week end I accidental dose my 250/gal reef tank with Copper. There is as much stupidity in this story as discovery. I KNOW better but thought I was smarter!
Let me start with a bit of my history. I upgraded to a 250/gal tank lask August and from the start I've been battling algae(Bryopsis). I've slowly made changes to the system ove the last year, lights, flow, filtration, skimming etc. Nothing seem to work. I would make small victories when I would crop and area but the algae still made strong come backs. Finally I though I would build a nice big refugium and starve the algae out.
During my working hours I come across tanks and other nice pieces of industrial equipment. I had been sitting on a very nice 3 x 5 x 11", square, open top, polyethylene tank. The tank came from and parts cleaning line that was demolished. This was going to be a very nice addition. Very large surface area, I built a weir in the center of the tank. One side would be a large refugium and the other would be my frag tank. I spent a a couple hours decontaminating the tank. I sanded the entire tanks area about a 1/16 into its depth. I took time to seal all the corners I could not sand with 100% Silicone. I THOUGHT this would suffice my decontamination needs. Finallly I spent all last Saturday installing the tank. I ran 1" plumbing from my Aqua C skimmer to the tank and hooked up the return pump.
Here is a very important key in this story. My return pump is an old Magnum 330 can filter I had sitting around. I decided to load the unit with a nice gas grade carbon I use. This would really polish up the return water! I fire the whole unit up and stood back to admire my work.
Effects:
That night as the unit ran and the tank was feeking the effects.
The next morning the first sign of trouble came from the Acropora. All my Acropora immediately dumped all the color, COMPLETELY BLEACHED! Next the Zoanthids, toughest thing in the tank sucked up completely. Mushrooms shrank out of sight.
To say the least I was shocked! I was watching thousands of dollars collapse right in front of me. Not to mention a hell of a lot of work and care. I quickly ruled out all other problems. I had to be the new refugium. The demolish crew (my wife and I) quickly shut down the refugium. Having a very good idea were I screwed up I quiked changed my carbon filter, vacuumed the tank, cleaned the filters and performed a water change.
Anaylsis and stupidity factor:
First, I knew polyethylene was semi porous. I knew the tank was used in a brass valve cleaning operation. I know some brass valves have Copper parts. I know that some cleaning baths use a Cyanide solutions. If you add all these factors up you can see the math. John + work + not thinking = tank trouble.
From my working knowledge of the chemistry involved I can assume that the Copper and or Cyanide quickly leached from the Polyethylene. How quickly is what blows my mind. For arguments sake lets use Copper as the poision. We all know Copper is a great algaecide. Well guess what I just dosed my entire system with it.
Remember by high grade gas carbon. Yes, this is what saved my poor tank. Judging by the tank reaction and the PPM levels that must have made it through the carbon I was very lucky that the carbon was in the mix.
Let me start with a bit of my history. I upgraded to a 250/gal tank lask August and from the start I've been battling algae(Bryopsis). I've slowly made changes to the system ove the last year, lights, flow, filtration, skimming etc. Nothing seem to work. I would make small victories when I would crop and area but the algae still made strong come backs. Finally I though I would build a nice big refugium and starve the algae out.
During my working hours I come across tanks and other nice pieces of industrial equipment. I had been sitting on a very nice 3 x 5 x 11", square, open top, polyethylene tank. The tank came from and parts cleaning line that was demolished. This was going to be a very nice addition. Very large surface area, I built a weir in the center of the tank. One side would be a large refugium and the other would be my frag tank. I spent a a couple hours decontaminating the tank. I sanded the entire tanks area about a 1/16 into its depth. I took time to seal all the corners I could not sand with 100% Silicone. I THOUGHT this would suffice my decontamination needs. Finallly I spent all last Saturday installing the tank. I ran 1" plumbing from my Aqua C skimmer to the tank and hooked up the return pump.
Here is a very important key in this story. My return pump is an old Magnum 330 can filter I had sitting around. I decided to load the unit with a nice gas grade carbon I use. This would really polish up the return water! I fire the whole unit up and stood back to admire my work.
Effects:
That night as the unit ran and the tank was feeking the effects.
The next morning the first sign of trouble came from the Acropora. All my Acropora immediately dumped all the color, COMPLETELY BLEACHED! Next the Zoanthids, toughest thing in the tank sucked up completely. Mushrooms shrank out of sight.
To say the least I was shocked! I was watching thousands of dollars collapse right in front of me. Not to mention a hell of a lot of work and care. I quickly ruled out all other problems. I had to be the new refugium. The demolish crew (my wife and I) quickly shut down the refugium. Having a very good idea were I screwed up I quiked changed my carbon filter, vacuumed the tank, cleaned the filters and performed a water change.
Anaylsis and stupidity factor:
First, I knew polyethylene was semi porous. I knew the tank was used in a brass valve cleaning operation. I know some brass valves have Copper parts. I know that some cleaning baths use a Cyanide solutions. If you add all these factors up you can see the math. John + work + not thinking = tank trouble.
From my working knowledge of the chemistry involved I can assume that the Copper and or Cyanide quickly leached from the Polyethylene. How quickly is what blows my mind. For arguments sake lets use Copper as the poision. We all know Copper is a great algaecide. Well guess what I just dosed my entire system with it.
Remember by high grade gas carbon. Yes, this is what saved my poor tank. Judging by the tank reaction and the PPM levels that must have made it through the carbon I was very lucky that the carbon was in the mix.
