Urgent help needed brass check valve copper problems

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Mr.Nano

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hi guys

so i bought a new tank had it cycle and all that .had corals in for a few days as a test to check water params and we then installed a brass check valve not thinking about the copper brass is made from the tank then ran for about a a day when the corals stopped opening and by the second day the corals wer dead so the tank ran with the valve for about a week . so i then realized about the copper in the brass check valve, so i replaced the check valve with a pvc one . then did a 100% water change and left it for a week .

i put a finger leather frag in last night and still its not opening up .
so could there be a copper problem still in the tank that is killing them off or can it be something else?

needa solve this problem fast as im moving fish and corals over from one tank to another soon. as the tank is being sold.
 
You shouldn't put corals in as a way to test the water quality, use test kits.
I highly doubt enough copper would have leached into the water to kill corals so quickly, I think something else is the problem.
 
i did a test the first time the levels wer fine . thats y i threw the corals in . havent done a test again gona do one later today tho to double check. but the only thing i put it was the brass check valve and within a day or little over the corals wer dead. and they wer open and fine before then . so im thinking it had something to do with the brass valve.
 
Mr.Nano said:
i did a test the first time the levels wer fine . thats y i threw the corals in . havent done a test again gona do one later today tho to double check. but the only thing i put it was the brass check valve and within a day or little over the corals wer dead. and they wer open and fine before then . so im thinking it had something to do with the brass valve.
Click to expand...

I will bring my test kits as well on Saturday just in case, I have prime and stability should I bring those as well?
 
thanx dane yeah it may be helpful . got a buddy whos gna do a full test for me today and see.
 
copper based equipment is now being used in medical field because of reactive properties killing off any organisms that come into contact with it.
 
but that does not say that in this specific case it is the culprit. best of luck, hope things sort out quickly
 
dont want to hijack thread but my question is related to topic..how would u treat liverock n sand that has been used in a tank treated/contaminated with copper? will carbon remove copper or can rock never b used in coral tank again?
 
Something that has always kept me wondering. SPS and all corals grow on ship wrecks. Brass bells, SS balustrades, iron/steel huls etc.
 
Nemos Janitor said:
Something that has always kept me wondering. SPS and all corals grow on ship wrecks. Brass bells, SS balustrades, iron/steel huls etc.
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Yes but there is BIG dilution there, as the popular saying goes, "dilution is the solution to the pollution".
 
Copper is a mission to get out of a tank. A single valve can easily contaminate even a large tank.

I used to use a single coin in my 600l freshwater tank to treat it.

It is also notoriously difficult to get rid off, I would think twice to buy a tank that was exposed to copper for corrals.

I used to use a product called "Resincu", it's a copper absorbtion resin, that worked well in the pass.

Also have seen some local LFS stocking water treatment stuff that remove heavy metals and i think that they will have some copper chelating ability?
 
i think theres more than copper to blame here..

what are your ammonia and nitrite readings?

copper can be easily removed from an aquarium.. carbon is one method but waterchanges are another.. i have rock in my tank today that was kept in fish only systems where i dosed copper consistently many years ago.. i have also seen anemones introduced into shop tanks where copper was used to treat fish 2 weeks later and water changes done..

i dont dispute its a possible culprit but seems like there is more at play that it alone...
 
@Leslie the amonia is at 0 and the nitrates are at 0.25ppm. but ive been looking at some things we built a overflow box , which for some we used some Q-bond to seal some of the gaps that wer visible .. so my question is could there be some chemical in the Q-bond that is killling the corals . water readings seem to be fine still have yet to test copper levels itself as i ran outa test water the other day wen took to get tested. but so far
ph - 8.6
salinity - 1.28
nitrate - 0.25ppm
amonia - 0
kh - 6
copper - N/A so far will test asap
 
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also after we found out about the brass valve we did a complete water change 100% and since then done another 40% change.. also we tinted the overflow box which was white perspex to black with spray can tint which we sprayed on and let set properly. could that also maybe be leeching some chemical into the water and killing the corals?
 
ok one more confession the rock we got was from the beach :whistling:... we did though let it sit in a drum in salt water for about 3 weeks or so before letting it dry out again for about another week .. but diatoms are growing on the rock tho which leads me to believe that its not really the rock as much as something else.
 
mmm

i had a case like this some years ago and it turned out to be an airfreshner in the room which was the problem, other things woth mentioning is if you have a maid and she cleaned your glass with windowlene 9spelling) as that is amonia based.

you parameters seem fine, as for the Q bond if its normal Cyanoacrylate is rarely poisinous unless put onto the coral itself.. i have had bad results glueing acros with it while fragging...

the paint well thats a possibility as unless fully cured it could leach into tha water...

diatoms are a good sign that there is life within the system
 
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