little experiment

[kjdeut]

My daughter and I thought we would share this.

Katie did her environmental science paper on the affects of metals on corals (she has been hanging around me and the club to much :) ). We set up 4 10 gal tanks with one being the control, the other 3 had equal weights of metals, 1 copper in the form of electrical wiring, 1 aluminum in the form of a soda can and the third was lead in the form of fishing weights. We used 13 grams of each which was what the soda can weighted and worked out to be about 13 inches of the wire and 3 small split shot fishing weights.

I picked up some xenia and had it in my frag tank for about a month before we started. When we were ready to start we split the water from the frag tank equally in the 4 10 gal tanks, topped off each tank with fresh saltwater that had been mixed for about a week, and lastly added the coral. I should add that each tank also had a small powerhead for circulation and were placed so they received about the same amount of light.

Anyone who has been in the hobby had most likely heard like I have how deadly copper is to coral. I just never realized how deadly. Within 4 hours of adding the copper to the tank the water started getting cloudy, xenia began changing to a purple/dark color and shrunk in size, and was pulsing a lot slower. The xenia on the control and other 2 tanks were looking the same with no changes. By the next morning the water in the copper tank was cloudy and the xenia had shriveled up to almost nothing and was pretty much dead.
We started last Sunday afternoon and Katie took the copper tank down on Monday evening because the coral had dissolved and was beginning to smell. As for the other tanks the control tank is still clear and the xenia has shown no change. Aluminum water is cloudy but the xenia is also still looking about the same, in fact some of it has attached to the can. The xenia in the lead tank is still alive but much smaller then when we started, water is also the cloudiest of the 3.

Pretty cool little experiment.

Ken.

[kbb0118]

Very interesting! :biggthumpup: Thank you for sharing. Do keep us updated about the remaining tanks.

Love your daughter's name too ;) Good strong name!

[brendondreher]

You better not make your daughter mad. Now she knows how to hurt you.;)

That must be interesting to watch. Did you take photos?

[mattb]

Good stuff.... I also did similar experiments as an undergrad (mid 90s) though more for aquatic biology, which at the U of M, I knew more on the first day than the profs did about corals (more freshwater biology).

The biggest experiment was with Indo-Pacific Acropora sp. and two Caribbean acroporids ( palmata and cervicornis), which I collected the Caribbean acroporids myself ( with theproper CITIES permits). They don't live well together in my experiments with the Indo Pacific dominating them. I postulated chemical warfare as the control tanks with the A palmata and A cervicornis grew just fine.

As a follow up you should have her google coral metal toxicology, I'm sure she'd find a fair amount of info especially on copper, a less amount on lead and likely even less on aluminum.

[REEFSTOCK]

You better not make your daughter mad. Now she knows how to hurt you.;)

That must be interesting to watch. Did you take photos?

Lol I didn't see that joke coming.

This is an important story, thanks for sharing. I remember when JNS had problems with a penny in the sump. Your experiment is a needed reminder!

[kjdeut]

That must be interesting to watch. Did you take photos?

Yup - she took daily pictures and noted her observations. She is just starting to put everything together so once we get the picsoff the camera I will post them.

Ken

[Hellaenergy]

What are you going to do with the contaminated tanks now? I heard copper never really leaves a tank.

[Taklu]

Thanks for sharing, another note red highlighted in my reef book.

So the only chemistry I've learnt is reef chemistry, but I was a GK nerd as a kid... one of the things I recall is that copper becomes inert once its oxidized. (the blue/green color result...is that copper oxide or copper die oxide? or sulphate...I know copper sulphate is blue ;))

so if the outer layer is completely oxidized shouldnt it be the end of it? again another observation when the channel is foxed ;) theres corals growing all over sunken ships. if my info is right older vessels used much copper.....

(** Googled "coral metal toxicology" ..TCMAS is fourth on the list :nuts::biggthumpup: **)

[kjdeut]

What are you going to do with the contaminated tanks now? I heard copper never really leaves a tank.

I am playing it safe and tossing the tank, the pump and the rock that was in it. Powerhead was one of those small ones I think I got in a bucket of salt years ago, so no loss.

Ken