Converting from FW planted, copper concerns

Blinky

Blinky

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My husband and I are thinking of converting one of our FW tanks into a nano reef (I'm really excited about this, he seems much more interested than he's ever been about the FW tanks). I've got lots of FW experience, but none with SW. I've been reading everything I can and lurking like mad over at www.nano-reef.com, and I have a question/concern: the tank we want to change is heavily planted and regularly fertilized with both macros and traces, which contains a very small amount of copper.
I've read that some people think it's fine as long as you clean a tank thoroughly before going salt, but others say that even the most minute amouts of Cu that may remain (in the silicone seals?) will kill any inverts we try to keep.
Can anyone tell me if it's safe, or if I should wait until some time in the future when I have room for another tank?

I'm still reading as much as I can and nowhere near ready to attempt this, but I think this is the general plan (based on what I've read so far) - forgive me if this is off, I'm still new to this :). Not sure if this info is needed, but I figure it can't hurt.

14g tank (10"W x 20"L x 16"H)
80W Satellite PC fixture (1 x 40W dual daylight 6,700k/10,000k, 1x 40W dual actinic 420nm/460nm & moonlight)
live rock and aragonite sand
1-2 small powerhead(s)
possibly a modified Aquaclear 300 or 500 (with baffle, smaller impeller, no lid) & PC desk lamp for a refugium - I'm still looking into this, many people on nano-reef.com seem to use them and like it.
The inhabitant(s) might included one or at most two fish, but I'm mostly interested in the critters - crabs, shrimp, maybe a snail, some soft corals like mushrooms.
 
Depends on what inverts you want and how much is a minute amount of copper? It's very toxic to most invert life and I wouldn't risk it. I'd just buy another tank the size you're looking at won't cost that much anyway ,"less than lots of the softies as a matter of fact,". The critter list sounds good but, you might consider leaving off one of the fish and gettting more snails the lighting will turn your tank into an algae farm pretty fast. Go with a variety of smaller snail species and you'll get a lot more out of them than you would a big old turbo any way. Also invert species don't put nearly as much stress on the system as fish fwiw.
hth and welcome to s.w.
Chris
 
Thanks for the reply :)
I should have been specific rather than just saying minute, I use a trace mix for the plants with the following (this is copied from the label):
Fe 7%
Mn 2%
An 0.4%
B 1.3%
Mo 0.06%
Cu 0.10%
It's a dry mix, I dilute 2tbsp in 500ml of water and dose a small amount (~1ml) daily.
I'd rather not get another tank but of course I will if it's needed. There are lots of shrimp and snails in the tank who seem very happy and healthy right now, but I have no idea if FW inverts are affected by copper as marine inverts are so this may not mean anything.
Thanks for the welcome, and for the tip about snails; I appreciate all the help I can get :D
 
I so would get another tank. I'm afraid that this would be toxic to pretty much any invert that had copper based blood. The shrimp can handle it a little better than corals etc. I'm a confirmed verified chicken so keep that in mind. I just think that with that much exposure over a long term that you'd probably have some problems. This is just IMO I don't know what the toxic dosage is but, to give you an idea one of my friends lost a tank full of coral. His 2 year old threw a penny in his 250 gal reef tank it stayed in the water for about 2 hours . It killed lots of stuff .
hth
and welcome to Salt water!
 
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