Anyone Used Seachem Cuprisorb

[jeasko]

Recently changed my main external filter and upgraded to an ehim filter, since doing so I have noticed that both my colonies of zoas are closing up and my mushrooms are not opening as much, when I think back on it I cant remember if i used tap water or RO water to clean the media before using it (kicking myself big time for it now but small baby = little sleep =fuzzy head!), if i used tap water i'm thinking I have introduced a small amount of copper/heavy metals from my tap water as I have checked all my prams on my water and they are fine

SG 1.025 using hydrometer which has been checked against LFS water (is out but only about 0.001 or less)
Dkh 10 API test Kit
calcium 400 Salfert test kit
temp 28 deg
phosphate 0 sera test kit
nitrate 0 API test kit
amonnia 0 API test kit

the tank has been going for about 2 years now with no great problems until now, having looked around locally Seachem have a copper/heavy metal removing media which I am tempted to try but before i do i just thought id see if anyone has used it before and if so what sort of results they got?

and to see if people agree with my theory?

 

[SkiFletch]

I'd look around for "Polyfilter" cause it will take care of any problems, copper, other chemicals, etc.

Whats your fish stock? And have you inspected the affected corals for any pests?

 

[jeasko]

Ski thanks for your reply

there doesnt seem to be any pests on the affected coral if there is they are smaller than little nudibranch and not at all visable, as for fish stock I have 1 x royal grama, 1 x bi colour blenny, 2 x perc clowns, 3 x humbug damsels (left these till last as i know your not a great lover of damsels ) in a 145ltr tank.

However have noticed tonight after doing the biggest water change I dare in one go 30ltr (some corals are very high up the water column so huge water change is not an option) that the outlet from my external filter was incredibly slow, my only thought is that the phosphate reactor attached to the outlet is slowing it down, this could be causing alsorts of problems as I have active carbon and purigen in the canister, and being that the flow through it is slow it could explain why about 2-3 weeks later im getting problems, as it was only slowing the process down and not removing enough in one hit to make a lasting impact, in the morning i will look into this further as this is the only likely solution I can come up with.

as for the polyfilter my LFS stocks it so will give it a go as once the filter is flowing correctly it can only speed up the removal of unwanted chemicals

 

[SkiFletch]

Hummm, well none of that stock should bother shrooms or zoos. One other thing, it's possible that changing the filter changed the flow characteristics wherever the corals are and that now they don't like it...

 

[jeasko]

SKI

I bypassed the phosphate reactor today and added rowaphos and polyfilter to my external filter then powered it up and man what a difference the flow rate is, was probably about a liter per hour before now its flowing at full capacity, hopefully within a few days i will see some improvements, incidentally the skimmer has been hardly removing anything lately so had a look at that and cant see any reason for that which would indicate the water is ok as far as the skimmer is concered so another thing pointing to unwanted metals/chemicals in the water.

only time will tell

as for the stock they have been in there together now for about 12 months so had no concerns it was the fish causing it hopefully will be able to tell from the colour of the polyfilter what is in the water.

 

[SkiFletch]

Hopefully. Yeah, powerfilters have pumps that are NOT designed for pressure applications and adding things to their outlet really slows them down.

Good luck

 

[jeasko]

Thanks Ski always makes you feel better boucing ideas off people (and usually ends up you answering your own question some how! )

 

[jeasko]

the story unfolds!

added the polyfilter and rowaphos into the external filter and bypassed the phosphate reactor and got the flow up high and expected to see some results in a few days, however nothing appeared to change.

So decided to get a refractometer to be sure my sg was right which turned up a few days back, after calibrating it it appears the sg is 1.030 or very close to not the 1.025 my hydrometer was indicating so decided to take a few gallons out and store it and top up (with auto topup system so very slowly) RO water until my SG is right, while i was doing this i noticed the bubbles in my skimmer had all but stopped which rang alarm bells, as about a few weeks back it just appeared to produce less skim mate so my assumtion waas the water was carying less pollutants than it was hence when corals started closing i assumed it must be something else (and decided on copper/heavymeatals ).

After having removed the skimmer and found the cause of the problem (salt build up in the air intake would you believe!) i've re started it and its going nuts right now! so hopefully the water SG and the skimmer working correctly will soon have the problem under control

my reason for posting this is to just remind anyone thats having problems never to assume anything as if this resolves my problems it could have been a huge mistake toi assume the water was of a high quality when infact it was probably the oposite and being that nitrates are had to measure well in a marine setup my test showed 0 i jumped to the wrong conlusion.
And never feel embarrased to post your problem no matter how silly it sounds as there is always a chance something is being overlooked.

Just hope this resolves my problems!

 

[SkiFletch]

Any updates?

You're neither the first nor the last person to be victimized by a drifting cheap hydrometer, welcome to the club (I'm in it too )

 

[jeasko]

so far so good

reduced the salinity to around 1.027 and am planning on removing a little more water to get it down to about 1.025 this evening, that with haviong the skimmer working seems o be having an effect, both my zoa colonies are looking like they may open and are not quite so tightly shut, my blue mushrooms are looking alot better but still have a way to go, so hopefully reducing the salinty tonight will be the final push.

still cant belive my twisted logic that no skimate = good quality water!

will keep you informed

 

[SkiFletch]

Cool. Likely the salinity was more at fault than the skimmate. Most marine organisms can tolerate lower sg better than they can tolerate high sg

 

[jeasko]

kind of what i was going with still cant belive how unaccurate that thing got and so quickly as well, only checked it with my LFS a few weeks back! but will see tomorrow if lowering the SG tonight has given it the final push