Rinsing OK for empty tank that had previous cupramine treatment?
 

If I rinsed it out thoroughly, can I use a tank that's had a cupramine treatment in it, to store RO/DI in it temporarily? I need me some temporary holding tanks and I'm looking at my 30g hospital tank very thoughtfully at the moment..

I think rinsing should be okay...if it were me, I would maybe use some "prime" etc in the rinse water and maybe let it soak for an hour...

Good idea as Prime is said to detoxify heavy metal. Better be safe than sorry!

If it were me I would strip all silicone and reseal as the copper would have been absorbed by the silicone and then it will leach into the water again killing any inverts in the tank. The same way it would from rack that was in a tank that was treated with coppermine.

Bill

Tony, I'd try real hard to find something else. Maybe go buy some cheap garbage cans...

...or not.

I'd go find something else too.

Mitch

I have a bunch of pails Tony but I'm sure you can find something better and likely have a bunch of pails too.

If you can find the really big bags they use at fish markets, you can line the tank with them instead (I'd double up if possible).

I thought the whole idea of cupramine was that it wasn't supposed to leave a copper residue.

Anyhow thanks for the comments. In case anyone's interested, I didn't use the tank in the end anyhow, had enough storage capacity without it for what I needed and had two empty tanks still in the queue ahead of this one so I was worried for nothing. :lol: And, well, it's only water. I was just going to start dumping it down the drain if I needed more than 2 containers, I just didn't want to waste any if it was avoidable to do so.

Tony, apparently the copper in Cupramine is non-leaching. When I had the Ich/Marine Velvet breakout I had the fish in a spare tank that was lent to me. I read up on Cupramine and it is supposedly safe. This tank has since been used with no problems. I can't remember where I found the info, but it made me rest easier as I didn't want to ruin the tank for future use.

I'm sure I've read that too Lance .. I just need to be less lazy and look for the info I suppose to be sure because I hate relying on my (apparently flawed) memory.

Anyhow thanks. :) For now the 30g continues to sit in a forgotten corner until the next time I think "Hmmmmmm I wonder if I could use that for ...."

www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/Cupramine.html



12th question

go for it
 

My experience with hobbyist: we r generally far too paranoid, overly cautious, overbuild, and take extraordinary steps for "precautionary" measures. Taking into consideration what u know about the copper and even IF it is somehow absorbed by the silicone and it somehow is leached back into the water, at what level would it be at? Probably even less than what's in the Trace Elements supplements that we dose into our tanks.

I agree, but I think that is because of (so far) mysterious failures that can kill corals that we have been trying hard/spending lots of money to raise and grow over many years.
I have never used copper or cupramine, but for a 30 gallon tank, it would be worth it to relegate it to some other use. A larger tank, maybe not so much.
Buying a new tank that size is probably on par with purchasing the various copper absorbing materials, test kits and required water changes.

Mitch

I agree fully with chin lee. Problems do occur that do need our attention but then sometimes just overreact for some simple thing which adds to the already high expense in the hobby "my hermit died now I must do a ton of water change" kinda extreme but that seems to be my view in some issues posted here. I love the hobby but I don't wanna turn it to my second job that i am not getting paid for. For me just keeping it simple and getting a ton of information before jumping into anything would be the best way of keeping all this paranoia and high expense down.

My 110g tank had cupramine in it and I use it now as my mixing tank for water changes. I don't have a lot of inverts but my hermit crabs, nassarus snail and sand sifting starfish are all fine and I've been using it for water changes for a year now. No adverse effects as of yet as far as I can tell.