How long until a brass sump fitting becomes toxic to inverts?

[Dalibongo]

Hey guys,

New reefer here. I have a 40B with a 20L sump. On my drain line I made the mistake of putting a brass nipple and gate valve. The sump has been running for about 6 days.

I realize now that brass is not good for my tank but I’m wondering how long it is until it becomes totally toxic for everything inside?

I have all new pvc fittings and valves coming in on the 10th but is it too late?

TIA

 

[blaxsun]

You should be fine until the 10th.

 

[RocketEngineer]

What livestock do you have? If none, I would shut things down and remove asap. But I’m not one to risk contaminating things.

 

[fishguy242]

Hi, welcome to the reef ...
change out asap, oxidation will be in full force within a month,
after change , run some metazorb to remove if anything leached.

 

[Dalibongo]

What livestock do you have? If none, I would shut things down and remove asap. But I’m not one to risk contaminating things.

I’ve got some inverts. A few hermit crabs and some nas snails that I just put in today.

I’ve disconnected my sump entirely. I’m running my DT on an HOB right now until my new stuff comes in. I bought some cuprisorb for when I get the system running again. Also going to do a 40% water change next week when I get the new pvc installed and sump back up and running.

Hopefully things will be okay.

 

[Peace River]

If you are still curious or concerned after you remove the fitting then you can submit an ICP test and/or run metasorb.

 

[RocketEngineer]

I’ve got some inverts. A few hermit crabs and some nas snails that I just put in today.

I’ve disconnected my sump entirely. I’m running my DT on an HOB right now until my new stuff comes in. I bought some cuprisorb for when I get the system running again. Also going to do a 40% water change next week when I get the new pvc installed and sump back up and running.

Hopefully things will be okay.

Inverts is reason enough not to run anything like that. Just not worth the risk IMO

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Welcome To The Reef!

 

[The_Paradox]

After this much time it’s already started the passivation process. You could probably leave it in there forever will no to minimal ill effect. If you don’t remove it though everyone will say that’s why X died from now until the end of time even if it’s 3 new tanks later.

 

[Dalibongo]

Inverts is reason enough not to run anything like that. Just not worth the risk IMO

Again, I wasn’t intentionally trying to run brass in my set up instead of pvc. I thought both were acceptable.

I learned after I put my first load of critters today in how potentially harmful it could be.

I’m no longer running the sump with the brass fittings. Just hoping that I havnt already done too much damage/need to start all over again.

 

[The_Paradox]

Good read on common models to estimate leaching of yellow brass over time.

https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=ucin1504873540139029&disposition=inline

Natural seawater (NSW) has ~0.09ppm copper. Assuming your tank started at zero it would take months to years of zero water changes to even come up to NSW. I know your salt has a decent amount of copper in it but you get the point.