use heater thats been in cupramine

I have a 300 watt Hydor heater I've used for the last few months treating fish with cupramine. If I take this heater off and give it a good rub n scrub how toxic will it be at leeching copper.

Long story short: I want to move a heater that's in my fw 10 gallon hospital tank over to a fowlr sw tank and replace it with the heater that's been being used for cupramine treatment.

After the fw hospital tank is done this heater will moved over to a dirted 55 gallon planted tank so I won't be as concerned. I'm just worried about contaminating the 10 gal hex my fw fish are being treated in because I plan to use it as a small fowlr setup for my mom.

Thanks guys
Jerry

 

hmmnmmmmm I don't know that I would really try it. I don't think it would be a big deal but still....

 

Copper won't bind to glass. It will bind to organics, which will bind to glass though. Usually it is recommended to clean glass and plastic objects, which have been exposed to copper in bleach and vinegar (not at the same time). So, you could possibly do so with the heater and it should be fine; at least as long as it is a quality heater and the bleach and vinaigrette don't dissolve any of the parts...

 

thank you

 

It will be fine once it has been cleaned. Glass binds trace amounts of metals (on the order of nanomolar), but not in amounts nearly high enough to harm a reef aquarium.

If you want to be really safe...Clean it with soap and water, rinse, then soak the heater in a strong detergent solution for 24 hours, followed by another thorough rinse.