Residue Copper Trace in the tank/silicon

[MCE]

Have difficulty getting rid of copper trace After using Coppersafe in main tank.

Ccopper test kit shows 1.0ppm after many rounds of complete water changed...Copper must had gone into the silicon and slowly leaching back to water column..

Filtration by activated charcoal seems not able to completely remove the residue copper...Other than decom the whole tank and scrape out the silicon which is a massive undertaking, any other way or solutions?

[Urban Aquaria]

Activated carbon for aquariums will help remove the residual copper in the water column (the more carbon you use the more it can absorb, and have to change it out more often for better efficiency), but the copper not in the water column would still be present.

Other than the tank silicone... do you have any rocks, wood or substrate in the tank? And bio-media in the filter? Those items will also retain and slowly release traces of the copper back into the aquarium for a while too... just need to do alot of water changes to gradually dilute it.

Using RO/DI water might help to lower the copper levels abit faster (compared to using tap water which in itself may contain certain amounts of copper too, especially in buildings with older pipings).

[Suzerolt]

Vinegar bath is a common practice in preparing rocks for marine tanks.

If you can take your live stock out for a while, one option is to soak your tank/equipment in vinegar (which is a mild 5% acetic acid)
You can dilute 1:10 parts vinegar:water. A 5L bottle of vinegar is about $3.50 at Sheng Siong.

Acid will dissolve copper effectively from glass or even silicone. You can soak your rocks in vinegar for a while if necessary too.
Rinse thoroughly with tap water or RO/DI water after that.

[MCE]

Thanks, nice to hear vinegar is a good solution to take out copper trace from the tank, silicon and rock.

Would diluted Sulfuric Acid do the same in removing copper trace?
Looks like filter medias - wools, sponges and zeolite may all be soak in vinegar or acid, and then restart nitrogen cycle?

Great and thanks for the info.



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[Suzerolt]

Diluted sulphuric acid will work too. Do you know where to get it locally?

The acid bath will kill everything. Then restart everything from scratch.


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[MCE]

Diluted sulphuric acid will work too. Do you know where to get it locally?

The acid bath will kill everything. Then restart everything from scratch.


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My bottle salfuric acid is called "Drain-out" which is very effective for removal of drain blockage was brought from hardware store. I am unsure how much to dilute though. Thanks for yr reply.