Time Delayed Responses
davidrupe said:
The algae does not bother me and can be removed if the need occurs. The thing that does get me is the metals in the water. Anybody (Matt) know how much metal/copper is toxic to inverts and how much is toxic to fish, in ppm? This way I can calculate how long it will take before my water becomes toxic.
Okay,
Before I answer your question about metals, I need to ask: what is the source of the tap water that you are using? The caveat to a RO/DI system being as close to mandatory as you can get is that some water supplies have reef-acceptable water quality. In those instances, an RO/DI unit would be unnecessary although wise as backup. If you are on a water system that has unnacceptable reef quality water, such as our MWRA water, then it is easier for me to give an answer because I know what is in your water. I will assume that you are using MWRA water.
As an aside here, I think in your dream to use your tap water, you are forgetting one of the greatest obstacles that still stands in your way: chloramines. Recall, not only are chloramines toxic to your reef inhabitants, but if you use those poor solutions like sodium thiosulfate, you are exposing your reef inhabitants to ammonia. The only time a reef should be exposed to ammonia is during a cycle, and not much will survive the ammonia.
But back to the metals. As with all toxicology, there is a large greay area. Fortunately, copper toxicity to invertebrates doesn't have much of a grey area from the hobbyist vanatge point. According to a recent
study by Dr. Ron, copper was demonstrated to preculde survival of invertebrates at a concentration of 0.1ppm or greater (see Table 1, positive control). The copper concentration in natural sea water is 0.000254ppm, so we can say that a concentration between 0 and 0.000254ppm is okay. But what happens between 0.000254ppm and 0.1ppm? Well, if you go back to the study by Dr. Ron, survivial clearly decreases. So what are we to do with such a large grey area? Unfortunately for you, the copper level in MWRA water is often much higher than 0.1ppm, so I think it is fairly safe to say that the copper level, in addition to the chloramine level, makes MWRA water unacceptable,
davidrupe said:
Another question (Matt) is how many ppm of the heavy metals can be supported in solution before the excess is precipitated to my sand bed? Non dissolved metals can't hurt the fish. Unless they are sand sifters and are sifting in the metals.
I don't think you want to even approach the solubility of metals in solution in your reef tank. While I can't give you a definite answer (perhaps Dr. Randy can), copper can far exceed the lethal concentration to fish, let alone invertebrates, before precipitating,
Matt