Whoops, copper in tank

[rcherry]

I set up a 15 gallon tank as a paludarium a few months back and had a pump delivering water to a couple of water features in the land section. Unfortunately I wasn't thinking and ran the water return line through a brass ball valve which of course contains copper. I did have about 6 RCS in there after about a month or two of the tank running, and they were all dead within a week or so. I realized what killed them, but wasn't able to swap out the hardware until this past weekend.

My question is, about how long should I wait until trying to add shrimp again? I'll be continuing with about 20% water changes on a weekly basis, and there is only about 8-9 gallons of water in the system. I've always been against using carbon in a heavily planted tank like this but if it's my best option I'd be willing to use it briefly.

Thanks for the help,
Ryan

 

[xazax]

API has a Copper test you could use to monitor. Also, looking at the paper that came with the test I have it says to use API bio-chem zorb packets to lower levels. I'm not sure of the effectiveness of these because I've never used them.

Good luck!

Sent from my VS985 4G using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[rcherry]

Thanks for the response xazax. I thought I read somewhere that the common copper tests don't read low levels that would still be toxic to inverts. How low does your copper test go? I mean what's the lowest value it can test for?

 

[xazax]

I haven't kept shrimp before so take what I say for what it is. The test goes down to 0.25ppm and (theoretically) it can also show when levels are zero. This site says RCS are safe if below 0.37ppm:

http://calc.petalphile.com/cu

 

[TheDude]

There is also an API brand that is for tap water. It says it removes heavy metals including copper, you add 5ml per 10 gallons. If you are still worried about copper in the tank after everything posted above, it wouldnt hurt to add it.

I live in a old college town apartment with a 10 gallon rcs breeder and I use it when I do water changes with the tap water here and haven't had any problems.