Glacier Water Vending and Copper Tubing

[Vixyswillie]

Hey All,

 

For those of you (like myself) who are asking questions about water choices for your reef and whether or not they are copper-free, I recently sent an email to the Glacier water company. I asked them if they use copper tubing in their store vending machines - or if copper was present in the water. Here's the answer I got... FYI:

 

Hello Patrick, we understand your concern over the purification process of the water you are using for your reef.  Our machines are equipped with 2 copper tubes, one for the water coming into and the other for the water draining down the sewage. The filtration process in our equipment has the ability to remove 96-98% of the copper from the water being filtered.  Our water is recommended for human consumption only and should be used for animals or plants at the consumer's discretion.  Our machines are equipped with a Purity Guard System for Quality Assurance where a sensor inside the machine monitors the water quality, should the water exceed 60 parts per million of TDS, the sensor will automatically take the machine out of service.  

Thank you for contacting us. Maria Martinez, Customer Service, Glacier Water Services, 800-452-2437

[SBGRAD24]

Thanks for the info. Because I have been using Glacier water since the inception of my reef, does anyone know a good way of removing copper from the water.

[lizbeth]

Thanks!

 

I've been using that water for top offs and when I mix my own sw.

[Guest AbSoluTc]

It doesn't matter.  Ro/Di is the same.  Water comes in on pipes and goes out on pvc.

 

Ro/Di, water purification places anything like that is going to remove most all traces of copper.  So either way you slice it = there is going to be some copper.

[linty]

But wont copper build up with evaporation and replacement?  

[Smokey Joe]

I'm not worried at all about it.  Many if not most houses have copper pipes, as is the same for businesses I imagine.  With this said I'm not sure how you could avoid copper completely.  Either way, the amounts leeching out of pipes have got to be pretty d*mn small, even before most of them are filtered out by the unit.  The point isn't to completely remove contaminats, it's just to get sufficiently high enough water quality to allow your fish to be happy.  The time it would take to build a substantial amount of copper is probably beyond the liftime of any of us, and certainly beyond that of our fish.

[Guest AbSoluTc]

Linty-

 

No, thats why we do water changes.  Remove used up water and contaminants and replace with fresh water and nutrients and other items.

 

Its all relative.

[Sahin]

I agree with Smokey Joe, its just too small a quatity to make any sigficance.

[Toyfreek]

From my research,

Copper inherintly collects and increases in porus materials (rock, sand, dead coral etc.) if you dont have your tank running for a long time (like 3years or more) you will prolly never see a problem. In five to ten years though the copper can and prolly will build to toxic levels. there is no reef safe way I know of to remove copper from a system short of changeing out your rock and substrate. This isn't a problem for most reefers cuz they get the "bigger Tank" syndrome and dilute the copper content with more rock and sand before they reach Killer levels. if you plan on having the same tank for a long time Use RO/DI water with a TDS of 0 and change the resins and microfilters on a timely basis.

HTH,

Toy

[FamousGuy]

ummm err so if you have a tank for a long time (hopefully my 25 will last that long, i don't like big tanks ) what should you do after you've had it for about 5-10 years, test it for copper?  And if it's detectable what would fix it, could you just change the rock out with new cured rock and that would bring the levels down so dramatically your tank would be safe?  I actually have an RO unit in the house but i dont trust it, and I dont plan on using anything besides glacier unless the machines get taken down....

[Toyfreek]

there is no reliable copper test  available to the hobby at this time unfortunately. you could for certain test Positive Vs. Negative but quantity is very difficult.  but to answer your Q, Yes, you could replace the rock and substrate and avoid the copper build up.

HTH,

Toy

[linty]

I don't think the amount going in is insignificant.  It was enough to show up on a copper test (as the lowest possible value...but still there).

 

AbsolutC the problem is that when your water evaporates, the copper would not, and when you replace the evaporated water, you'd be adding more copper, and when you do water changes you'd be taking out some copper, but still adding some back in.  In the end you'd probably end up with steadily increasing amounts of copper.

 

I found a product, i think it was made by seachem called toxic metal sponge.  It's granules that you are supposed to put in a nylon bag somewhere with a current.  It says it soaks up copper, lead and mercury.  I suppose it won't do much if the copper is already stuck in my rock.

 

So all this aside...does anybody know at what copper levels things will start to be affected?

 

My tank is new so I guess this really isn't my problem, but I can't keep astraea snails alive, I've got 1 healthy one, he's been around for a few weeks but I've had about 6 or 7 astraeas die within the first few days.  I know about acclimitization, and my water seems fine.  

Maybe they don't like the temperature (82)

[FamousGuy]

(Edited by FamousGuy at 1:50 am on June 15, 2002)

[FamousGuy]

ah now you guys have me worried cuz i called 2 LFS and they don't sell water of any sort, and since i'm a broke college dude a nice ro/di is kind of out of the question( i just used my budget on a 20 gallon acrylic tank and a bunch of cds).  My tanks doing alright though so that must be a good sign, corallines taking off and my crabs are all happy and energetic...i guess the true test will be when i stick coral in.  

p.s. what if i got some polyfilter-media and rigged it into a ghetto water filter in a pvc tube?  Or a metal sponge?  SLO i know you're a college man up in cal poly, what have you been using for water?

[FamousGuy]

^