Copper In My Water?

[Splatter]

Hey all

As in live down in the south of England, where every pipe in a...well, big radius is made of copper - does that mean that there will be alot of copper in my water? And if so, how do I remove it? I've heard my dad go on about how he always had problems around here with his plants *rambles for a bit about java fern* and then put it down to the copper in the water.

So if it is the copper damaging my plants, is there a way to remove it other than collecting rainwater/using RO water?

 

[shang hi]

im not sure about how to remove it because its not a heavy metal.... most dechlorinaters get rid of them. but i also have copper pipes, its used mainly because its strong unlike plastic, doesn't rust as easily as steel and iron and its cheap. unless the pipes are hundreds of years old the pipes shulod not have lots of copper in the water. and this cant be healthy so if there is copper in your water systems then it's probberly unsafe for you to drink.
im not 100% about this info though

 

[Luketendo]

Dechlorinator gets rid of bad metals.

 

[The-Wolf]

if you are concerned about the amount of dissolved copper(Cu) in your water then invest in a copper test kit
(Sera, Salifert and TMC do them). The safe level of Cu is 0.3ppm,if it is higher than that then a activated carbon to your filter.

 

[backtotropical]

Polyfilters are very good for removing copper.

 

[Splatter]

Thanks for the help guys!

I'll probably cycle over to my LFS tommorow and ask for a copper test And since I have some activated carbon, I'll be ready for the results!

I'm not too sure about using polyfilters though It looks like they take a fair few useful things out of the water too

 

[Polenth]

I live down south too and I know we have some copper pipes in the house. Metal pipes don't leave that much in the water. If they dissolved that quickly they'd be pretty useless as pipes. As an example I keep land snails and I know other people that do in the south. The snails are fine, which they wouldn't be if there was a lot of copper.

 

[curiousgeorge]

IIRC, You can google the water supplier and visit the site.I was able to do this for my supplier and download a pdf with results from tests showing exact mineral content,ph, etc etc

Worth looking into to have a pretty good idea what comes out the tap!