Removing Copper After Medicating

[Wildbetta]

So normally when one doses copper medication the normal route is to add carbon to the filter to remove it from the tank.  However all I use in my tanks are sponge filters which have nowhere to add carbon.  I have previously just done really large water changes (at least 75%) back to back to remove any possible copper but I don't know if this really is an effective way.  Plus I would hate to potentially be overdosing my tanks the next time I had to dose copper in these tanks if the water changes are not removing the copper like I thought.

Any thoughts on what I could use in my tanks to remove copper medication?  Without resorting to buying a mechanical filter of course.  

 

[jag51186]

If you could find a small HOB on sale, you could just run it with just carbon in when needed. But, idk how feasible this is with your tank/setup. Just a thought.

 

[Bubbelzzz]

There are carbon sponges available. I thought they did the same as normal carbon in a tank. 

 

[Wildbetta]

There are carbon sponges available. I thought they did the same as normal carbon in a tank. 

Hmm I have not heard of these before.  Will have to investigate.    Thanks!!
 
 
 

If you could find a small HOB on sale, you could just run it with just carbon in when needed. But, idk how feasible this is with your tank/setup. Just a thought.

 
While this is an option, I really do not want to have to buy a mechanical filter just to remove medication from my tanks.  Plus I would have to buy one that would fit on a 40 breeder since 2 of my tanks are that size and that would not only be a bit more costly than I want to deal with but the filter would be a bit big for the majority of my tanks which are 20 gallon or less.

 

[jag51186]

You wouldn't have to get one that is appropriate for your biggest tank, since you are not using it for it's filtration capacity. So if you get a HOB filter that is rated for a 10 gallon, such as the Aqueon 10 (just as an example), it is rated for 100 gallons per hour of filtration. So, if you just put carbon in it and run it on your tank for a couple days, I would think it would remove all the medication just fine. And, these are only ten bucks online. My point is, since you aren't actually wanting it for it's filtering capacity, you basically just need something that will run your water through carbon, so a small/cheap HOB would do the job. But, I also don't know the stats on how many times you would need to run each gallon through carbon before all the medication is removed. 
 
Just my thoughts, good luck!

 

[Bubbelzzz]

I'm not sure whether it works, but couldn't you just hang a bag of carbon in front of the filtration outflow? The water will in that case still flow past the carbon and since it is just temporary, It doesn't matter that it look silly. Besides, it is a very cheap solution.

 

[NickAu]

Hi WB.
 
If you have a power head laying around here is a cheap and easy way to do it. Bonus is you can use any size bottle full of carbon.

 

[Ltygress]

Woohoo! I can post!

Okay. The best thing for removing copper isn't actually carbon. It's Cuprisorb. And Bubbelzzz pretty much said what I was going to say.

I just finally set up my 100-gallon and found the water had a VERY tiny trace of copper in it (it wasn't enough to compare to the test color chart, but the color WAS there). I have a 100mL bag of Cuprisorb and hung it over the spray bar where the filtered water comes back into the tank. Within about a week, ALL color had disappeared from tests, indicating all of the copper was finally gone.

The bag of cuprisorb is regenerable (soak it in Muriatic acid and use it again and again). The 100mL bag says it is only meant for 60-gallon tanks, but it did the job in my 100-gallon.

If you're dead-set on using carbon, you can do the same thing, carbon just tends to go after a LOT more that is absorbed in the water. Cuprisorb goes after heavy metals (such as copper). For something REALLY cheap, check the craft section of Walmart for little mesh bags with a draw-string closure. They come 7 or 10 to a pack for about $2. You can put copper in there and use the string to tie it around the filter outlet. Just avoid the ones with glitter on them.

 

[Wildbetta]

Thanks guys!  I picked up some carbon and hung it in front/above the outflow of the sponge filters in the media bags made for mechanical filters. (have had the bags for a while)   Plus before that I did really large water changes on those tanks to help remove a bunch of the copper before having to filter it through the carbon.  

 

[DrRob]

I'd probably go with a DIY box filter. There was a howto lying around somewhere for one made from a tetra fishfood pot.

 

[Ltygress]

I'd probably go with a DIY box filter. There was a howto lying around somewhere for one made from a tetra fishfood pot.

I'm a part of a local aquarium group on Facebook where one guy hooked an old coke bottle up to a powerhead intake. He had cut the bottom off of the coke bottle, and then just stuffed a bunch of kitchen scrubbies up into it with some bio-rings in between a couple of them. About a week later, he took pictures of it, and the "filter" had collected SO much stuff that it was doing better mechanical filtration than his Marineland Biowheel Power filter!

 

[NickAu]

 
I'm a part of a local aquarium group on Facebook where one guy hooked an old coke bottle up to a powerhead intake.

Like this?