F*&% Up of epic proportion!!!

[Geofrog]

Stupid question, I know, but could the rock still be used in a FOWLR systems, with the knowledge that it is contaminated with copper, so no shrimp or clean up crew?

[daniella3d]

Is the liverock really garbage now? because in my system I had enough free copper to kill half of my corals and the rest was in shock for a while but I had my water tested after a month and no more trace of copper. From my experience the copper will not be absorbed so much into the liverock and will eventually bind to organic matter and be neutralized or at least turned into a non toxic form and removed by the skimmer and syphoning of the sand.

I did not change my liverock after the copper poisoning and everything is thriving again in my tank. Copper is at very low level so normal level for saltwater, so my liverock is not leaching any copper or at least not something that can do any level of dammage, and I have a very porous Totoka liverock.

I would test for copper before throwing out good live liverock. I am guessing that with Cuprisorb and a few good water change, the liverock is going to be perfectly fine.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Geofrog

Stupid question, I know, but could the rock still be used in a FOWLR systems, with the knowledge that it is contaminated with copper, so no shrimp or clean up crew?

Not stupid at all. Yes, the rock could be used in a FOWLR system. The danger comes down the road when the person shuts down and tries to sell the rock. This is always a risk buying used rock...

[daniella3d]

Unless it has healthy coral on it...that alone is a clue that the liverock should be healthy as well.

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Not stupid at all. Yes, the rock could be used in a FOWLR system. The danger comes down the road when the person shuts down and tries to sell the rock. This is always a risk buying used rock...

[Casey8]

Even if you buy at LFS, it is still not safe. Everybody can sell their rocks to LFS to get a credit and we have no clue what the condition of the rocks are anyways. Unless you get the rocks when they arrive at the store and you see them unwrapping them in front of you. That was how I got my rocks at the beginning. I don't trust somebody else's rocks if I don't know that person well.