Copper In Old Tank

[AstonN24vantage]

hello. my sister's ex-boyfriend's brother has a little 7 gallon or so tank that he keeps a few shrimp, and either neons or guppies ( i can't remember) and a bunch of java moss but anyway, i too have a 7 gallon and i liked his idea and have been considering using it. great.

here's my problem. my 7 gallon used to be a quarentine for an angel with SEVERE ich, and i may have accidently overdosed with coppersafe and i found a few pennies in the gravel . anyway, the tank is really blue inside, and the gravel was very blue but i washed it out and it is almost completely clean. i know i will probably need a new filter, which i am more than happy to buy. my problem is that i am not sure that the shrimp and guppies/ neons will be okay. if i clean the whole tank out thoroughly, will it be okay? the tank has been sitting for over 2 years dry, and i took the gravel out and cleaned it last month.

thank you.

 

[Katty]

I don't know how well they work, but I have seen copper test kits at the petstore. Which is weird because they always have the copper test but never nitrite or nitrate tests.... Anyways that's beside the point. Maybe you could fill up this tank with just water, wait a few days/weeks to give any possible copper time to leech out, then test the water with the copper test. If no copper shows up on the test, I think you'd be good to go.

I'd just buy new gravel though, gravel is dirt cheap, literally One less thing to worry about.

 

[AstonN24vantage]

I'd just buy new gravel though, gravel is dirt cheap, literally One less thing to worry about.

nice one. anyway, i think that im gonna get a new filter, cause the one i have is probably not only filled with copper but also trashed. will the copper eventually make its way out? it has been sitting for 2 years...

 

[Katty]

Well, the copper either comes out or it doesn't. If it comes out (by leaching out of the silicone/whatever else and into the water), it would be able to harm the animals, but then that means you'd also be able to wash it out by soaking or rinsing with water, but there still may be long term leaching. If it doesn't come out, you wouldn't be able to wash it out, but then it wouldn't be getting into the water to harm the animals anyways.

A copper test kit would also be useful to check the water regularly and do a water change or evacuate the animals if copper starts coming out into the water after long term

 

[AstonN24vantage]

cheers katty. sounds great. i definitely agree with you on the copper test.

 

[Katty]

I hope that works out for you, good luck

 

[AstonN24vantage]

could i take water from my other tank and then immidiately add fish, or should i let the tank sit for a few days then add fish? can i immidiatly add java moss?

 

[Katty]

What are you letting the water sit for? Cycling or to get rid of copper?

 

[AstonN24vantage]

get rid of copper.

and would you reccomend sand or gravel (how big?) for this stocking:
5 x Neon Tetra
5 x Cherry Shrimp
4 x Ghost Shrimp
2x Black phantom tetra

and would it work?

 

[Katty]

I would rinse and soak the tank out as much as possible, because the copper could contaminate old tank water as much as it could new water. Old or new water shouldn't be important, just use whichever you like. Just remember to cycle your filter first.

When you're ready to stock the tank, it might be a good idea to only add one ghost shrimp at first and see if it dies or starts getting sick in a week. So if something is wrong and there is still copper left or something, you won't have wasted as much money if it dies, rather than loosing a bunch of fish and shrimps. If it lives, go ahead and buy and add everyone else.

As for sand or gravel, go with your preference or whatever you are more comfortable with, all the animals you listed should be fine with either of any size. Personally I'd go all neons or all black phantoms so they could have a bigger school going on. I feel like the two black phantoms would be a little shy with only two of them. Just my opinion though.

 

[AstonN24vantage]

okay. i was only mentioning old water cause you asked about cycling. i thought the same about the shrimp.

 

[SlyPolak]

okay. i was only mentioning old water cause you asked about cycling. i thought the same about the shrimp.

"old" water has nothing to do with speeding/slowing a cycle... 99% of beneficial bacteria resides in the filter, the other 1% is mainly on ornaments/gravel etc. Barely none (if any) is in the actual water... if I were you I would seed it from an established filter.

 

[Katty]

And adding old tank water doesn't cycle a tank immediately. The bacteria doesn't live in the water, plus I've tried it didn't seem to speed anything up either.

 

[AstonN24vantage]

i could throw some of my media in the new filter and use old tank water?

 

[Katty]

Cycled media should speed things up, but you should probably just take it for granted that you'll be doing a fishless cycle and go that route with adding ammonia and checking, and if it ends up going through the whole cycle in a day, great! And if it takes a month... Well, at least you didn't put fish in there yet.