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Thread: Slightly OT - copper and algae

  1. #1

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    Slightly OT - copper and algae

    Hey guys, slightly off-topic, had a mini disaster with the tank due to numerous factors (tank overheating, not cleaning the screen often enough, removing the foam pad filters from the power heads for 2 weeks and then putting them back only to have the suspended food in the water rot in the pads with no bacteria... all at the same time... we should know better, I know!).

    Unforunately this caused an ich/cryptocaryon outbreak, and lost our bannerfish :cry:, however, the water quality is great now that we sorted those issues out, but there's a few fish looking slightly poorly and smothered in ich, despite the great water quality.

    Now I'll finally get to the question, going to pull out all the inverts into a small 2.5' spare tank and then treat the tank/fish with Seachem Cupramine, which is copper based, but designed so that it can be removed with carbon within about a week (I have a copper test kit just in case). So, how will the algae on the scrubber react to the copper, will it kill it? Will it kill certain types? Will it absorb it? Does anyone have or know of anyone who's had experience with ATSs and copper based medications?

    Thanks,
    Tom.

  2. #2
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    Re: Slightly OT - copper and algae

    Get a UV instead. Aqua UV 57 watts. Will wipe out the ick and leave everything else ok.

    You can't use copper on live sand/rock... will kill all of it. Not sure of effects on algae, though.

  3. #3

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    Re: Slightly OT - copper and algae

    Quote Originally Posted by SantaMonica
    Get a UV instead. Aqua UV 57 watts. Will wipe out the ick and leave everything else ok.
    You can't use copper on live sand/rock... will kill all of it. Not sure of effects on algae, though.
    Apperently:
    Cupramine™ effectively eradicates Oodinium, Cryptocaryon, Amyloodinium, Ichthyophthirius, and other ectoparasites of both freshwater and marine fish. It is superior to copper sulfate, chloride & citrate: it is non-acidic, less toxic to fish, remains in solution, and does not contaminate the filter bed. It is superior to chelates: it is fully charged (ionic), active at low concentrations, and is removable with carbon.
    I'll be using Prime to tackle any temporary ammonia/nitrite spikes if it does in fact damage the filter bed, and will put some decent bacterial starters in after the carbon has removed the Cupramine.
    After that, I'll put an internal UV into the tank to keep anything left under control (which is likely to be nothing). Saying all this, I was going to pick up the Cupramine tomorrow, and this morning most of the fish seem to be looking slightly better than yesterday and have less whitespot, so I think now is probably a good time to wipe it out completely.
    I'll be taking all the inverts out, and dipping all the coral in Seacheam (yeah I like them! used to sell their product lines in the shop) Reef Dip and going to quarantine them in the spare tank with brand new water for at least 3 weeks, and dip them again before going back into the main tank when the copper has been removed.
    Don't suppose anyone knows if the Reef Dip can be used on other inverts, e.g. snails, crabs, starfish etc.?

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    Re: Slightly OT - copper and algae

    Well, after a week of running seachem cupramine (copper based medication), the algae scrubber is actually looking better than ever!
    It's weird, it's as if it's killed off the slime algaes and left the turf to thrive, and it's spread evenly over the entire screen.
    Did a clean yesterday and the entire screen has a fairly thick layer of really dense carpeted turf algae that I have to scrape fairly hard to get off with a plastic card, coming off in large carpet-like chunks

    So, copper does seem to have some sort of effect on the ATS, but it actually appears to be a positive one!

    Oh and a side note, I talked to Seachem tech support, who were horrified when I asked about using prime at the same time as Cupramine, apparently Prime is a reducing agent, and makes Cupramine 10 times more potent/dangerous by splitting Cu2 molecules into Cu molecules, so please don't prime your tank at the same time as using Cupramine!
    I can however report that the Cupramine has nearly completely wiped out visible ich/whitespot in the tank in 8 day so far.

  5. #5

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    Re: Slightly OT - copper and algae

    Ok, I can again say that the copper does seem to get rid of the slime algaes very well, the scrubber screen is looking fantastic, with good growth, and almost entirely nice thick carpet-like dark green algaes.
    And secondly, I can confirm, without a doubt, that algae scrubbers remove copper. The full 2 doses of Seachem Cupramine (0.5ppm copper in the tank) vanish to very nearly 0 in 2-3 days on a normal sized scrubber for me. I've talked to Seachem tech support about it, and have been told to test the copper in the water and redose it every time I need to.

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    Re: Slightly OT - copper and algae

    How is it known that something else did not remove the copper?

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    Re: Slightly OT - copper and algae

    There's only sand and fish in the tank, plus a few liverocks (most are in the Q tank). The tank is fairly bare at the moment
    There's no carbon, and the sand has been in a marine tank for 2-3 years. I doubt there's anything else it could be?

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