125 gallon treated with copper

[land locked]

I have the opportunity to purchase a 125 gallon tank. I currently have a peaceful reef tank and I know that copper treatment is a huge NO NO for my type of tank. However, Now that we are addicted to this hobby, my husband wants an aggressive tank.
This tank has an eel and two puffers(box and dog face) and one huge hermit crab, that is it. I knew to ask about the tank being treated from AA. She said yes, about a year ago. Nothing on the rock is growing, I am not sure if this is normal for rock in a FO tank, so I don't know if I would call it LR. It has a nice filtration, pump system and deep sand bed that the eel moves around. Admittedly I have not done research on this type of tank but she is moving soon and is desperate to sell. The only thing we might add would be a large trigger fish (something big enough the eel would not eat).
Does the copper treatment make this tank a no purchase if it will only be for fish?
Are there other questions I should ask her?
What are your thoughts?

 

[cmor1701d]

You should be ok for a fish only tank. I wonder about the eel.

"Copper is NOT invert, coral, live rock or reef safe, and some fish are copper sensitive, such as scaleless species, and they should not be exposed to it either. Copper should not be used in a saltwater aquarium unless it is a fish-only tank, and intended to stay that way."

 

[land locked]

Thank you for the quick response! The eel looks very healthy. She feeds him uncooked shrimp (the kind we eat) chopped up with the shell on. I am scared of him he is VERY aggressive, my husband thinks he is great. The poor box puffer stays on his side of the tank only. I think out of fear. The eel is about 3 years old as is the tank. He is about 3 foot long. He is a Honeycomb Moray, she said that is a more rare kind, I don't know a thing about them.

 

[melosu58]

IMO you should be OK as long as you dont have any inverts or corals. Have you tested for copper?

 

[roka64]

I think puffers are scaleless aren't they?
You can look into:
Aquarium Chemical Filter Media: Bio Chem Zorb
or:
Aquarium Water Quality: Poly Filters Filter Media
this one tells you what is being removed, by the change in color.
I would also keep purigen in there after you get the copper levels down.

 

[land locked]

These look great and if we get the tank, I will be getting those. Now, if you use those products will I be able to introduce a few pieces of live rock? To, overtime, make it all live rock? Or will that new LR I put in die? I guess I just don't like the barren look of the tank. I am used to my reef tank, even new it has more growth.

 

[roka64]

I guess it really depends on how much of the copper you can get out of the tank. Inverts might not do so well. I would get a copper test and see what the reading is.

 

[land locked]

I will ask her if she can test it for me? I know she has one invert in there now. It is the biggest hermit crab I have ever seen, about a small fist size, and he is doing fine. The only thing that has survived the eel, I am sure.

 

[cmor1701d]

Do the test for copper. Copper can leach from the rock that is in there now back into the water column. Add a poly filter to the sump. I use one 24/7 replacing it monthly.

 

[land locked]

Does anyone know where I could sell this Honeyconmb Eel? I don't think I want it, because he scares me. He ate the Box puffer this week.

 

[roka64]

You can try the barter and trade or the classifieds section. Can you return him to your LFS?

 

[land locked]

Thanks for all your help! Our only LFS is PETCO:-(. We made some calls to Denver and talked with a few guys who maintain tanks and one said he may be able to find it a home in a 200+ tank. He is even going to drive up and get it. I sure he will turn around and sell it but I don't care as long as he is in a bigger tank. I just felt bad for the thing, even though I did not like him. Once we have him gone our plan is to put the surviving puffer and hermit crab in a spare tank while we clean the rock and the sand. Then we are going to get the products suggested by Roka and run the tank for awhile to get as much of the copper out. I think we are going to put some supper covered LR ( like that expensive Florida stuff) to hopefully, eventually (years) get it to spread and make the tank not look so barren. I think we will also not put so much rock in. There was so much rock it looked crowded to me. Then we will put the puffer and the crab in. Does this sound reasonable?
I asked her to test for copper but she said she did not have a kit for it so guess what I ordered? I finally got the last test kits I ordered a while ago, its rough living in BUFU.
Will I need to cycle the tank like I did for my reef tank? Sorry I have not had time to read yet. The semester is almost over

 

[melosu58]

I cant find it but there is some stuff called cuprisorb I think it`s called that, helps to take copper out of the system. Does anyone know what I`m talking about?

 

[tawolcott]

CupriSorb by Sea Chem

Seachem - CupriSorb 250ml

 

[land locked]

Thanks, I will let you know how it works.

 

[melosu58]

Thanks Tawolcott

 

[roka64]

I think the polyfilter might work as well (I've never used them) but they claim to remove heavy metals.

 

[tawolcott]

Nice thing about polyfilter is that is shows color if it finds heavy metals (I don't remember if there are diffierent colors for diff metals or if the blue indicates Cu or just heavy metals in general). I would run the Cuprisorb then the poly and see if the poly changes color (or before and after). I think the Cupri is more for an 'accident' recovery, as in it works faster and holds more. Probably better safe than sorry though. I'd use both as a double check especially if you have a canister laying around to load up and let run

 

[cmor1701d]

Here's the color code for the Poly filters:
Blue Copper
Red Iron
Green Free Copper ions
Brown Normal organic load
Black Heavy organic load