I love my son...

[OgreMkV]

In spite of the fact that he dropped a penny into my RO water collection bucket... sigh.

How critical is this? I don't know how long the penny has been in there, but I filled it full of RO water 2 days ago.

I should toss the water yes?

 

[The Zigman]

Are you worried about the penny being copper?

they havent made pennies from copper in years.

 

[OgreMkV]

The outer layer is copper (I know because otherwise you couldn't make brass out of them). It also corrodes pretty quick.

 

[wellsm2]

I would rather be safe and I would not use the water.

 

[Reefscape]

Personly, i dont see that a penny can have that much, if any, of a negative effect.....

 

[7faces]

i guess it kinda depends on the year of the penny?

 

[equus_peduus]

If nothing else, you could probably drink it so it's not wasted... I buy RO water for myself to drink... and if you drink tea, it's the best kind of water to do that with.

1982 and newer pennies are copper/zinc. Zinc is not typically considered good for mammals... dunno about fish.

ETA: I very much doubt that one penny's worth of copper or zinc dissolved in the water is going to affect humans when drunk. Maybe if you drank the penny itself...

 

[Lupin]

Better safe than sorry. I understand RO water could be *choke* expensive but ending up killing the fish from heavy metals is going to be more heart-wrenching.

 

[dolfans1]

If nothing else, you could probably drink it so it's not wasted... I buy RO water for myself to drink... and if you drink tea, it's the best kind of water to do that with.

1982 and newer pennies are copper/zinc. Zinc is not typically considered good for mammals... dunno about fish.

ETA: I very much doubt that one penny's worth of copper or zinc dissolved in the water is going to affect humans when drunk. Maybe if you drank the penny itself...

If it's RO water, it's fine to drink. If you have an RO/DI system, don't drink the water - it's actually too pure and can cause mineral depletion in your body.

My guess is that this water is fine to use. It's a common misconception that even the smallest amount of copper is toxic to inverts. In fact, inverts need trace copper, and copper is present in seawater at 0.1 ppb. If the copper doesn't appear to be significantly corroded, it shouldn't have an effect on your tank.

 

[saltydunc]

i would play safe myself and not use the water.