Could this be the source of my copper problem?

I'm new to the hobby 3 months ago and just recently found out about copper poisoning. I've been killing myself over water parameters but was never able to keep corals. Existing snails starting to die off recently so I got nervous. Got a copper test done by a LFS and had some copper in the water. Now this tank came used and supposedly set up for only 9 months prior to me acquiring it. My question now is. Can I salvage the rocks or has the fitting released enough copper to render the rocks useless? Is this case as bad as copper treating the tank or is this fitting only giving out enough to kill corals but easily reversible? The fitting is in the drainage to the sump.

 

DAmn who put that in their. unlucky and yes thats your source for coral deaths inverts too.
as for the rocks being scrap I would think they probabl could be salvaged but it would be a long process. and one I personaly have no experience with. GL

 

Oh dear... Get that out..!! that it not a good..!!!

 

I would sell everything and start over. Get rid of the rocks and unfortunately you'll have to disclose to whomever buys it that there was copper. The rocks I would not trust since they have probably absorbed copper and will leach it back out.

 

Or you could just have this be a FOWLR tank and get another one for a reef tank;D

But, definitely get the fitting out and replace with a more appropriate one.

 

+1 Sell and Start over :-[ Karma for you

 

You can get a heavy metal sponge, I believe Kent marine makes one and I know of two people that have used them and swear by them. But def get rid of the fitting.

Jake

 

Yikes, thats a scary sight. Remove that fitting and replace it with a pvc one asap. Also you could run your tank as a fowlr for a few months and run cuprisorb in your filter. this way you can still have fish, and any copper that is leached should get sucked into the media.

Seachem. CupriSorb

I would get a handful of snails after 3 months or so and monitor them, if all is well, add in a few hermits. If they last a month, try some cheap xenia and/or shrooms and so on.

~Will.

 

I would too... it could cause problems down the road and be a constant battle and it's a lot of work (relatively speaking) to remove the copper but you can't remove the doubt and stress...

sorry dude.

Good idea... if you have the space... If you were to do that, I'd say go w/Triggers and other snail eating fish seeing as how you wouldn't really be able to keep snails for your CuC anyway... just throwing that out there...

 

Thanks for all the input. I just made it home from work today to see the unanimous vote to discard and start over. I will probably just do that since I don't have too much room to fool with a second tank. I found a hobbyist selling some live rocks for $1.75/lb but doesn't seem like the premium kind. Just the dense base rock type, but the corals will tend to just cover them up over time anyways. Unless anyone think I should invest in the more expensive tonga type. Also, I was told to fill the tank up with tap water once emptied of all that rocks and sand. Pour in 1/2 gal of vinegar and cycle for a few hours to etch out all the copper from the glass and silicone. Does that sound like a sure way to eliminate all doubts? Man.....can't believe one stupid little fitting can cause all that trouble.