Ultimately, it is my belief that this idea that once you put copper in something it will never be able to used for a reef is not true. Copper is not a renewing resource - eventually, all of it will leach out of the surfaces that have been exposed to copper. The question we need to ask ourselves is how long does it take to leach out? That is have no answer to. I suspect things like glass and plastic, a quick rinse will get rid of it. I used a heater that I used in a copper treated QT tank in my reef tank for a long time and never had a single problem. In a tank, I think the question is how much soaks into the silicone and how fast does it leach out? I suspect it is actually removed from the silicone fairly quickly. I further suspect that it could take a longer or shorter amount of time to remove it all from LR depending on its porousness. Regardless, if you should use copper treated things in your reef tank, you should get a good copper test kit to test to see if there are levels in your water before adding any invertebrates. 
