Prime Water Conditioner to remove copper?

[jimrawr]

I had a little crisis last night, I had an ammonia spike that I noticed around midnight when my cleaner and flame angel were acting funny. I needed to do a good size water change they were really not doing well, but I dont have a RO/DI unit (yeah thats next on the list of things to buy).

So I used tap water I do have well water and its not THAT bad, but definantly not good either. I had a reading today of .47 TDS and .3 copper in my well water. So after a 50% water change, my tank is probably somewhere below that level.

Anyways, will prime water conditioner help to remove these? What are my options? I went and bought 10g of RO from the LFS, so I could do more water changes but the girl at the LFS (at CRA) told me not to yet, and just do really small ones every couple days.

I would love to be able to just buy a product and for it to be mostly gone so my corals dont start all dieing. My xenia has already started to die

 

[wrassefan]

run carbon and a poly sponge

 

[jimrawr]

Mind explaining that? Newbie here..

 

[NateHanson]

I don't think Prime will remove copper from your water, but polyfilter sponge will help remove that. I'd do water changes. Having measurable copper levels in a reef tank is a bad thing for sure.

 

[Cheetos]

Xenia die? Is that possible?

 

[smcnally]

Xenia die? Is that possible?

According to my old boss, Xenia was one of the "impossible corals to keep" not even 10 years ago...Hard to believe, huh?

 

[jimrawr]

Hmm.. Well at CRA they tested my tap water @ .3 copper level. Now I brought some tank water (which had a 50% change last night with the tap water) and copper levels are not detectable at a different LFS with two different test kits. Could my aragonite sand have absorbed it?

I think my Kenya Tree is also starting to get some black spots

 

[Cheetos]

According to my old boss, Xenia was one of the "impossible corals to keep" not even 10 years ago...Hard to believe, huh?

I wish I could kill it!

 

[Cheetos]

A lot of things could have absorbed it as .3 isn't very high but any detectable copper in a reef tank can cause severe damage. I wouldn't use your well water anymore Jim. I had the same problem with my well and invested in an RO/DI unit with great results.

 

[Andy O]

I guess another question would be do you know what caused the ammonia spike in the first place?

 

[jimrawr]

Yeah Mark I am going to.. Starting to look already, hopefully I can find a used on here or maybe ebay.

Dont know what caused the ammonia spike. I dont think anything died unless it was a snail or some hitchhiker I havent seen. Only fish is a flame angel, and only one cleaner shrimp and they are both alive.. Maybe I overfed? But I havent changed how much I have been feeding since I got my first fish almost a month ago now.. Just a few flakes in the morning and a few flakes at night. Nothing really hits the floor they eat it all up, just sometimes some gets skimmed..