As for your question about a chiller for your tank, a 1/4 hp chiller would be a bit oversized for even an 80-gallon tank. A 1/5 hp chiller would be better suited, with a 20 degree pull-down on a 90-gallon tank. A 1/6 hp chiller would give you up to a 10 degree pull-down. I would recomend you go with the 1/5 hp chiller.

If the whole “pull-down” term is confusing, all it means is that if your aquarium runs at 90 degrees F with no cooling at all (no chiller), and you were to install a chiller with a 20-degree pull-down, then the lowest that chiller could keep the temperature at is 70 degrees F (90 – 20 = 70).

And as for chiller brands, Aqua Logic is one of the best brands you could chose. They have been well-proved, are very reliable and reasonably priced. We have used them for over 10 years with great results.

The only other chiller brand I would say is comparable to Aqua Logic (that we have experience with) is the Tradewind brand of chillers (also very good).

I hope this helps.

Warren Gibbons
http://www.saltwateraquariumsecrets.com

The blue tang is doing amazingly well. It has been in the hospital tank for 15 days with the copper treatment. The error on the test kit was mine, not the test kit itself.

I now have a couple of additional questions on chillers and larger tanks. During the summers we leave the AC on to accommodate the tank, I’ve been thinking it would be less expensive to purchase a chiller instead. I would like to eventually get into a 72 Oceanic or an 80 gallon EURO, would a 1/4 HP be the right size? Aqua Logic has the Trimline Delta Star, is that one you would recommend and are there others that would be comparable?

Thanks again for your help.

Frank

Regarding Seacure, it is the non-chelated type of copper. Non-chelated copper, also known as copper sulfate, is the more potent form of copper treatment, yet it is less stable. What I mean by less stable is that it gets soaked up/bound by any calcium carbonate in the system such as live rock or aragonite.

The other form is chelated copper, such as coppersafe (Mardel I think). The chelated copper is more stable yet less potent. It also does not get soaked up by calcium carbonate (i.e. live rock, aragonite or oolytic sand), so it is easier to dose (not as much need for constant testing and redosing, but again not as potent).

So, since you have Seacure (non-chelated) you will need to test regularly and then redose to make sure that the copper level stays high enough. It is not uncommon to take a week of daily testing and dosing to get the copper level up to the ideal therapeutic range of 0.2 – 0.25ppm. So now on to making sure your test kit is working properly.

To confirm that your test kit is working properly you will want to do a control test with new saltwater (not tank water). Take a 5-gallon bucket of new saltwater and dose it with the proper amount of copper (see instructions for dosing). Make sure there is no live rock or aragonite/crushed coral in the bucket. So if the control test results from the bucket are 0.20 – 0.25ppm (like it should be), and your aquarium water test is not registering at all, that tells you the live rock and sand in your aquarium are soaking up the copper, and that your test kit is working properly, and that you now need to make another dose to your aquarium to get the copper level up to therapeutic level.

It is most likely that this is the reason your test is showing no copper (because the live rock and/or sand is soaking up the copper).

As for the carbon, a few pieces of carbon are not likely to make a big difference, but it could remove some of the copper. In general, carbon is very effective at removing copper (as long as the carbon is newly added – and not having sat in the aquarium for a month).

So, do the control test on your copper test kit. If the kit is fine, then continue to dose the aquarium until the copper level is in the thereapeutic range. And ideally you want to get it there in as few days as possible (less stress and more effective).

Also, if you haven’t done so already, be sure to lower your salinity down to 1.015 – 1.017. This alone is very effective at treating parasites and not as stressful as copper over the long term.

Keep me updated on how things turn out and let us know if we can be of further help.

Happy Fishes,

Warren Gibbons

I’m the guy you helped with the sick blue tang. First of all I would like to thank you for the amount of info you gave me, it was huge help getting on the right track to creating a better environment for my fish.

Just to update you. I have put together a hospital tank for the tang, a 20 gallon tank with a hang on bio filter, some substrate from the 55 gallon tank, a few items to give him hiding spaces, heater and a powerhead to circulate the water at the opposite end of the tank.

I am using Seacure copper treatment to get rid of the parasite. I have been careful to not over medicate, but the test kit is not helping. The test kit has a container used to mix some tank water with the small packet of powder, after shaking the color is supposed indicate the level of copper. I put 1 drop per gallon of the copper treatment in the tank Thursday night, the test did not show any level. Friday night I put half the amount feeling I would not be over medicating considering 1 drop should only amount to .15 and I need to be between .2 and .25 for 5 days. The test kit still shows no level of copper. I pulled the filters that I had removed the carbon from and found a few pieces of carbon I missed.

Why do you think I’m showing no copper? Was the small amount of carbon throwing the test off or is the test kit reliable? The fish seems to be a little better but I’m not sure of the copper level.

A few adjustments I’ve made to my 55 gallon tank are I did purchase a UV sterilizer and have added a number of items to the food selection. I have seen the fish reluctant to take anything new, it seems in time they eventually give in and eat the new foods.

Warren, thanks again for your help, and if you could comment on the test kit it would be appreciated.

Frank