Finall now why corals dont live in tank (lab tested results)

[JLAudio]

After endless frustration and dosing and testing I finally have my water chemistry results and see why my tank can not support corals but has little to know algae. here are th official results as of www.aquariumwatertesting.com

Ammonia (NH3-4) ........................Good ......................................... 0.004
Nitrite (NO2)................................Good ......................................... 0.020
Nitrate (NO3)...............................Good .............................................6.2
Phosphate (PO4) .......................... High............................................ 0.39
Silica (SiO2-3) ............................. High..............................................1.7
Potassium (K) ...............................Low............................................. 322
Calcium (Ca)................................Good ............................................ 404
Boron (B) .....................................Low..............................................2.1
Molybdenum (Mo).........................Good .............................................0.1
Strontium (Sr) .............................Good .............................................7.9
Magnesium (Mg) ..........................Good .......................................... 1338
Iodine (I?)...................................Good ........................................... 0.05
Copper (Cu++) ............................ High............................................ 0.14
Alkalinity (meq/L)..........................Low............................................ 2.19

I never added copper to this tank and the guy i bought it from had a thriving reef. Where could the copper be coming from? I only use RODI water that I test TDS and is .003 ppm, and just changed all the membranes and still comes out like that. Besides that I have no idea.

 

[prattreef]

No idea about the copper which seems suspicious, but the PO4 is very high.

 

[NYreefNoob]

make someone mad and they dropped a penny in tank or do you have kids or wife use aerosol anywhere near tank ?

 

[Bob 1000]

You say they had a thriving reef, did you see sps in the tank or taking a persons word??
I've seen lps thrive in a tank that had copper runn in it.. not sps..

 

[SevTT]

After endless frustration and dosing and testing I finally have my water chemistry results and see why my tank can not support corals but has little to know algae. here are th official results as of www.aquariumwatertesting.com

Ammonia (NH3-4) ........................Good ......................................... 0.004
Nitrite (NO2)................................Good ......................................... 0.020
Nitrate (NO3)...............................Good .............................................6.2
Phosphate (PO4) .......................... High............................................ 0.39
Silica (SiO2-3) ............................. High..............................................1.7
Potassium (K) ...............................Low............................................. 322
Calcium (Ca)................................Good ............................................ 404
Boron (B) .....................................Low..............................................2.1
Molybdenum (Mo).........................Good .............................................0.1
Strontium (Sr) .............................Good .............................................7.9
Magnesium (Mg) ..........................Good .......................................... 1338
Iodine (I?)...................................Good ........................................... 0.05
Copper (Cu++) ............................ High............................................ 0.14
Alkalinity (meq/L)..........................Low............................................ 2.19

I never added copper to this tank and the guy i bought it from had a thriving reef. Where could the copper be coming from? I only use RODI water that I test TDS and is .003 ppm, and just changed all the membranes and still comes out like that. Besides that I have no idea.

Most likely culprit is your top-off water; barring that, someone may have dropped a penny or something into the tank or sump. There's some kinda sponge that can be used to suck up copper -- and most other metals. I can't recall what it is called, but it's readily available at LFSes.

I'd buy a copper test kit, test your topoff, test your mixed, fresh SW -- and assuming both of these are 0, do a 20-25% WC, retest (your result should've dropped a corresponding amount,) and then test again a week later. If copper's gone up then there's something in your tank or plumbing for the tank that's doing it.

 

[noelskii]

a penny is bad for ur tank? i just remembered that i saw a penny in my gf's tank. it was hidden in a rubble rock from a frag that she had purchased in pets place in nyack. i'll tell her to take a pic.

 

[NYreefNoob]

penny = copper

 

[artie1209]

A polyfilter will pull out the copper

 

[seascape]

also have you ever bought a fish and not thinking use the water from the LFS most of them run copper in their system i always give my new fish a quik dip in fresh water and have never had a problem doing that,and never use their water from anything.

 

[TOTAL AQUARIUMS]

copper tests can be way off. It depends on the type of copper that test registers and the type of copper present. That level seems pretty high for a reef tank. Did you get the rocks or sand from the same guy you bought the tank from and did you see the tank running prior to purchase?

 

[TOTAL AQUARIUMS]

Copper from a bag of fish water is doubtful as the cause. It would have to be a lot of bags and constantly being added to maintain a level like that.

 

[JLAudio]

it has to be the top off water. Otherwise, i cant see it being so high in copper. I just figured that copper would come up on TDS.

Also a lot of my live rock is from some ebay seller, who sells cured dry rock.

And besides the new rock i added the rest is rock ive had for 5+ years

 

[xc800x]

the pipes in your house are made of copper.some can leach out into water flow

 

[Master Shake]

if you have any brass fixtures like valves or elbows that will give your tank copper. the calcium was a little low and any nitrite or amonia is bad, and your alkalinity is extremely low.

 

[Master Shake]

is there a salt mix in existance that has copper in it?? just wondering

 

[House of Laughter]

FWIW - penny's after 1982 have less than 2.5% copper in them. Prior to 1982, the reverse was true - they had more than 95% copper.

House

 

[Bob 1000]

Send your tap water to be tested,, Your tank may have saved you from otherwise unpreventable illness..

 

[jackson6745]

No idea about the copper which seems suspicious, but the PO4 is very high.

Yep! With such a high po4 level were you able to keep SPS? Algae problems? Seriously I think this is your issue more than anything.

 

[Bob 1000]

Ammonia (NH3-4) ........................Good ......................................... 0.004
Nitrite (NO2)................................Good ......................................... 0.020
Nitrate (NO3)...............................Good .............................................6.2
Phosphate (PO4) .......................... High............................................ 0.39
Silica (SiO2-3) ............................. High..............................................1.7
Potassium (K) ...............................Low............................................. 322
Calcium (Ca)................................Good ............................................ 404
Boron (B) .....................................Low..............................................2.1
Molybdenum (Mo).........................Good .............................................0.1
Strontium (Sr) .............................Good .............................................7.9
Magnesium (Mg) ..........................Good .......................................... 1338
Iodine (I?)...................................Good ........................................... 0.05
Copper (Cu++) ............................ High............................................ 0.14
Alkalinity (meq/L)..........................Low............................................ 2.19

"When keepin it real goes wrong" Dave Chapel,,lmao..
Seriously hope all goes well for you man..

 

[JLAudio]

no algae probs, and didnt even attempt to keep sps, because my easy corals were dying so knew it was impossible