Think I have a copper issue

[BowedFloor]

So I did a stupid. When I designed my system to run water to the basement for water changes, I used PEX lines and sharkbite fittings. sharkbite fittings are made of brass. One particular area of concern is as follows.

I have a PVC T fitting.

| To aquarium
|
|--- Sharkbite (Brass) fitting -> PEX tube -> Sharkbite (brass) valve -> PEX to bsmt
|
| From return pump

Water flows up in the above diagram.

I was doing some reading, as I added a few corals to this tank (no fish currently) and I had issues with the polyps refusing to extend and some are turning white, and had another soft coral die pretty much overnight (surface has turned completely white)

I removed and examined the fitting earlier and there was a black substance in it that smelled metallic.

Will be grabbing a test kit later when stores open but I doubt it will be that useful as it only reads down to 1ppm.

If the test does come back positive to be safe I will need to toss all of my live rock, sand and the water, then rinse the tank with vinegar.

I have filter pads in my sump between the dividers. Will those need to be replaced as well?

Oh, the brass fitting has been in place for about 6 weeks or so.

 

[tmz]

I'd get some poly pad . If it turns blue you have fee copper. It will also reduce it. It will show it at levels far lower than a hobby grade test kit. Cuprisorb is useful too. I would toss the pads and wipe down everything that touched the copper water with vinegar to be very safe. The copper in the tank binds to organics overtime taking a non toxic form. .Treatments with cuprisorb, activated carbon and/or polypad may be sufficent but there is a risk of leach back from the rocks which will persist for a while.

The rock can be salvaged as dead rock with a bleach and aid bath acid bath

 

[spieszak]

Do you know for certain a poly pad will turn blue from copper from lines and fittings and such? I know it says that on the package, just always at least partially assumed that that had to do all the copper treatments I've ever used either being blue or having a blue dye...

 

[bongarone]

Do you know for certain a poly pad will turn blue from copper from lines and fittings and such? I know it says that on the package, just always at least partially assumed that that had to do all the copper treatments I've ever used either being blue or having a blue dye...

It's your best bet. Polyfilter pads detect copper when test kits can't.

 

[billsreef]

I've had polyfilters turn blue from the copper in tap water

BTW, with brass fittings it is not just the copper that is a problem, but the zinc as well.

 

[tmz]

Yes it turns blue form any copper and is claimed to reduce copper to 30ppb, sigificantly lower than test kits detect.

 

[BowedFloor]

polyfilter is running.

Also grabbed some carbon to run in a reactor just in case it's not copper.

Now I get to sit and wait

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Did you replace the fitting with something else?

 

[tmz]

GAC will remove some copper too. Using it is a prudent step.

 

[spieszak]

To those that followed up on thw will it turn blue... thanks!

 

[tmz]

You are welcome.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

To those that followed up on thw will it turn blue... thanks!

I'm sorry, I don't understand.

Are you saying it did turn blue?

 

[BowedFloor]

I'm sorry, I don't understand.

Are you saying it did turn blue?

That's someone else.

It has turned brown'ish. I have removed the fitting on the T and put back in the PVC cap.

Gonna go grab coffee and then take a closer look at the poly filter.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Ah, sorry for the confusion. If it didn't turn blue in a few days you are probably OK. I'd leave it in for a while just in case.

 

[BowedFloor]

Ah, sorry for the confusion. If it didn't turn blue in a few days you are probably OK. I'd leave it in for a while just in case.

I think there is blue in it.

http://imgur.com/a/lWGXu

I looked at it under a few different light sources, and the colour remained.

So, time to scrap the rock, water, and sand?

Also, all the corals I moved from that tank into my other tank pretty much perked up overnight. Polyps are extending, etc.

There's definitely something up with that water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The link is overloaded at the moment. That might be it, but I wouldn't act yet. Give it more time to clearly blue up.

If so, scrap the water and sand, and you can acid rinse the rock and tank.

Or, you can run polyfilters (and cuprisorb) in the tank for a while, maybe with the sand removed, and see if you can get it no longer blue and so that corals seem OK when added.

 

[billsreef]

Right now it looks like the polyfilter is primarily pulling out organics. With only 6 weeks of exposure to that brass fitting, there might not be enough to copper in the water to really turn the polyfilter a noticeable blue on top of the brown from the organics.

 

[BowedFloor]

I'm kind of curious where all these organics are coming from, as I have little to no bio load, and a skimmer that seems to work very well at pulling tea or darker coloured liquid out of the tank.

During set up, the 'live' rock was out of water longer than I would have liked (24+hours) but was supposedly cured. Then I had a massive diatom bloom, then an algae bloom.

Are these Organics I'm pulling out now, material left in the watercolumn from these prior issues?

Update: Just took a look at the poly filter, it's getting browner and browner. Also have a very thick coating of dark green in my skimmer cup, and it was just cleaned the other day.

I'm assuming I should just keep running the poly pad, and the carbon?

Is there any way to tell when the waters healthy again without an ORP probe?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

There are many organics in seawater, and many aren't skimmable. If anything is living in the tank, there's organic matter in the water.