Chemically extracting copper from live rock?

[kwajtrader]

<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">The power cord for my heater must have gotten a pin hole in it and leached copper into my 70 gal tank starting about a year ago. By the time I figured it out and already had replaced just about everything you can imagine, all my coral was dead and gone. I tried getting the copper out using the seachem packets over three months but never got it down low enough to sustain even mushrooms. I finally broke the tank down and replaced all the media, tubing and sand and am wondering if there is any way to chemically extract the copper from the rock so I can reuse it. Right now the live rock is in my quarantine tank and in a Rubbermaid container with water circulating. I’m still getting a non zero (not completely clear on the color chart) reading from the API test kit.</span></span>
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[jennm]

Try putting a Polyfilter in there and see if it changes colour. It's hard to believe that a tiny pin hole would contaminate to that extent. API test kits... well I have a pretty low opinion of those...

If there's copper in solution in the water, a Polyfilter will tell you for sure, as it will turn blue. (It starts off white).

Jenn

 

[kwajtrader]

Yep, the poly filter is what helped me figure out it was copper. I'm assuming that it started as a pin hole, by the time I found it about 3" of both sides of the power cord were hollowed out.

 

[jennm]

Well the Poly Filter does remove metals, so you might want to keep on with that.
Must have been like that for some time.

Jenn

 

[dawgface]

+1 poly pad and lots of them over a long period of time.

 

[kwajtrader]

I was hoping there was a more brute force way to work on the rock, like something I could soak them in to bind or remove the copper. If I end up having to replace the rock, do you carry Pukani dry rock or something like it? I've started completely over so at this point I have new sand and water in my 70g tank.

 

[jennm]

Some dechlorinators bind heavy metals but I don't know if I'd trust that alone in a reef situation.

I do carry dry rock. It's not "Pukani" but it's nice stuff.

Jenn