Buying used aquarium..copper?

Hi I am buying a used aquarium in the near future, I don't know if the tank has ever been treated with Cu, if it has does this affect anything? What are your thoughts?

Anything else to check or worry about regarding a used aquarium?

 

you can buy a copper test kit. I would fill it with fresh water and let it site for a couple of days then test. Also ask if it was a reef tank in the past. If it was odds are it never saw copper

J

 

Even if treated with Cu, I wouldn't really even personally worry. If so, just run Cuprisorb or comperable copper scavanger resin. I TREATED a tank with Cu, and all that sand and rock is now in my SPS reef, with no issue. The copper scare IMO is grossly overblown

 

Have them fill it so you can both check for leaks an copper prior to buying. I wouldn't just ask because not everyone will give you an honest answer
I don't think it's overblown at all. I personally know people that bought used tanks and ran in to terrible headaches due to copper being run in them in the past.

 

I have seen it one time before that a friend bought a tank and had a horrible problem with it and had issues from previous copper use. He could not get the tank straight and it was a 180. I have been scared ever since of buying used tanks.

 

when you fill the tank with freshwater for the leak test drop a cup of bleach in it, that should get rid of a lot of things just "in-case" then just rinse, rinse, rinse.

 

Weird... like I said about 90% of my sand, probably 75% of my rock have seen copper, TWICE... Copper in the seals is silly to me, as the person that bought my 125, has a reef in it now and that is the tank that has seen copper... You know how much copper would need to be in the silicone to leach out and do damage? A fair amount.. At least thats my opinion.

Are you sure the problems weren't from something else? Was there a way to prove that the Cu was to blame?

 

Yep. Had a friend that kept having every coral and invert die. Tested his water and his Cu was over 1.0ppm for copper. 0.5 is fatal to most corals/inverts.
Us treating and the freshy people treating are completely different. A lot of freshy guys will run copper at 4-5ppm 24/7.
I should add IME the tanks were acrylic, so the entire tank could hold and leach the copper. Not sure how bad it would have to be with a glass tank.

 

the 180 my friend had had the ame issues no corals or incerts would stay alive. copper tested high in water and many of us helped to figure it out. The previous owner admitted to using copper after the face. What a waste of a 180 glass tank. I tested it myself and say it. the tank was bad....

 

Just doing a little thinking, what was the water source for those tanks? if they did you RO or even RO/DI then you have water storage and even some kind of connector ect that might have been copper maybe?