F*&% Up of epic proportion!!!
 

Several months ago I fully automated my 135 gallon tank with apex and ato etc. I was so proud of my new setup that i never had to touch. 3 weeks ago I lost all coral and inverts. Started testing for everything under the sun and found nothing until I got to copper. Without even thinking about it I used a brass fiting coming from the ato pump to the hose and have now destroyed my tank. I have been reading like crazy on the web and I am sick to my stomach with what I see. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Can I save my tank? Is there any chance of saving the live rock. I cannot bring my self to throw out 120 lbs of live rock. Also does any one in the surrey/ vancouver area have a 50 or so gallon tank sitting around that I can borrow to house my fish while the cleanup is happening?

seachem CupriSorb might work, never tried it though...

Gonna pick some up today and give it a try. I'm going to replace the sand for sure and hopefully save the live rock.

If you can read copper with a test kit, the rock is probably shot.

I'm so sorry. That's so terrible. Hopefully it doesn't deter you from trying again.

I find it surprising that a brass fitting on the ATO line can have such an effect, it really actually makes no sense unless it was actually submerged in the tank somehow allowing it to corrode faster. People use tap water in there reefs for decades and their house lines are full of copper and brass fittings. Is there another source the copper may have come from?

+1

I can't see how a single fitting could suddenly produce toxic levels seemingly overnight.

People fill their tanks with tap water, which usually runs through a copper line... I'm suprised a fitting would cause a huge impact, maybe due to the low PH somehow?

Anyway, what was your copper reading?

The line has been sitting in my 50 gallon top off tank permanently. I never thought anything of it my self but right now it is the only thing that makes sense as to why everything is dead.

Did you use Kent carbon that was subject to the recall due to copper?

No kent carbon was used.

I'd investigate other sources, a brass fitting won't just dissolve in fresh water to the point it would become toxic.

Have you tested the fresh water in the top off container for copper? If this is the source the level of copper should be noticeably higher than what's in the tank.

Do you use RO water? If you do, its not good.......
Do not run RO with copper or brass products, it will pit the piping very quickly and you'll have contamination.

The container is also used for mixing water for water changes and yes it has been confirmed as the source. From a long night of internet reading the use of DI resin to filter the water will greatly accelerate the breakdown of the metals and it can only take a few hours to become toxic.

Ya i use ro/di system for filtering and that seems to be what really makes a copper fitting worse.

Interesting... note to self no metallic fittings on RO lines.

Best of luck with the recovery. I'm sure a series of significant water changes will reduce the contamination to below toxic levels.

Yep, because of the pH of the RO, it will pit very quickly.
We run into this problem quite often in the trade.

It doesn't take very much time to reach toxic levels so a big part of this topic prevention for others. A small simple fitting that most would never think twice about can wipe out an entire system at a very rapid rate. I will try and get a pic of what the fitting looks like up later on.

That's sad. I had copper poisoning from Kent carbon and a lot of my corals died. After many water changes I had my water tested by a pro lab and it was free of copper so I guess my liverock did not absorb too much. My corals did absorb some copper because many of my remaining SPS are now fragile and bristle and they break at the slightest touch.

I used Polyfilter to help remove the copper with water changes. I would also use cuprisorb if I were you. Everything that is still alive in my tank is slowly recovering. It really does not take a large amount of free copper to kill corals.

I have a brass fitting on my ato as well. I'm heading home to get it the hell out of my water. Thanks for the post.

Isn't RODI water totally pure? As in absolutely nothing in it? Meaning PH would be 7.0 ? Which is totally neutral ?
I have a hard time seeing 1 fitting leaching so much copper

Totally neutral will increase it's ability to absorb ions. So yes, RO will pull Cu out quickly

+1 except ro/di water will pull more ions out not just ro water (I'm sure that is what you meant)

That is one of the downsides of di water it will quickly absorb any ions good or bad.

Brass on the upstream of the ro filter is fine, downstream, not so much.

No the pH of pure water is slightly acidic, hence why its called the universal solvent.

how long ago did you set up the ato? mine is about 4 mnths old and im really starting to worry at work. i know a couple more hours wont be the deciding factor but im just curious as to your timeline.

Its the same asd the posters. Its submerged in the fresh ro water as a reducer from the puump

pH of pure water is exactly 7.0, and neutral. The problem is that pure water is not usually pure. Exposure to air can form carbonic acid, making it slightly acidic.

sorry to hear of your crash! I recently had a minor one, due to kent carbon, unfortunately lost some livestock, and nearly killed off the live rock, my pod count was very low almost non existent. but After feeding the tank pods, and phytos (etc) its coming back hope everything turns out ok in the long run for you. its such a PITA when this happens

One guy at the LFS around here told me that the silicon would even absorb copper. Just like live rock and release it slowly back into the tank. I dojlno if it's true or not hope it helps.

The fitting ended up in the system in january and everything was fine for a while and then suddenly evrything went. So timeline was around 3 months.

don't forget to rid of the rocks for good... its no good for anyone in the future especially if it recirculates to us reefers unknowingly.

msjboy

Ya and depending what you read it basically looks like the whole sytem is garbage not just the rocks.

The tank can be resealed and washed with acid to remove copper. Theoretically the rock could also be bathed in acid and stripped of copper, but it's a lot of work. Any equipment can also be cleaned. Crappy situation all around...

sorry to hear that and thanks for the learning experience! good luck with future endevours

I had read that washing the rock with acid might work. At this point time and effort doesnt really matter. to me it beats throwing out $500 of rock if i can save it.

unless it costs more to clean

Acid is cheap just depends how much a person values there time I guess.

muriatic acid is cheap. If you have the time, fill a large rubbermaid with fresh water, add half a bottle of acid, add rock. It should fizz on the surface. LEt it soak for 10 minutes or so, then remove to a new tub of RO water, and let it soak overnight. Test the RO tub for Cu the next day. You'll need to add a big box of baking soda to the acid tub to neutralize it before dumping. Wear old clothes and long rubber gloves. Do this outside and don't drip the acid on your sidewalk.

Thanks for all the help everybody.