pepetj

I noticed that ToM Flow Meters (250 and 500GPH) recently inserted the cautionary advise of "not recommended for corals or invertebrates" and stating that it is intended for "Freshwater only".

These units work quite well but require some skills in plumbing due to the difference in diameter size of low-flow powerheads/water pumps and the requirement of placing them horizontally. The 250GPH model does not have metallic parts but the 500GPH model does so I suspect the 500 to be problematic and the 250 to be safe.

I haven't measured for Copper in my FW tanks where I use both models of flow meter. But I noticed that my Freshwater Clams died as well as the biggest Apple Snails within a couple of months of these units being installed. My FW Clams adapted quite well and were even mating for several months before I installed these flow meters. The Trumpet, Ramshorn, and other species of snails show no signs of problems.

I don't keep shrimps in any of the tanks with these devices.

Since the tanks where I use these devices are heavily planted, I figure my plants are taking up most available copper. However I am removing them until I figure a way of using them safely (maybe with a parallel plumbing and ball valves, opening/closing ball valves to measure flow and closing/opening ball valves to run without water passing through the meter constantly).

I use flow meters to be certain of running UV Sterilization at adequate/recommended ranges.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

Butterfly

Thanks for the heads up. Always good to know when something might cause problems.
carol

Nate McFin

Yikes.
It would be interesting to run a copper test and see how PPM it is or if it is just trace amounts.