Aquaponics 101 Part Three: System Design, Continue

[Shas]

How much copper is now in the water from the copper pipes in your aquaponics system? I do not know, but it will be more than if you didn't use the copper pipe to begin with.

Literal LOL!
Your logic is irrefutable, Oliver :=)

I do hope someone with the interest and resources will do this experiment.
The results would interest an awful lot of people, I think,
and potentially save many fish by supporting the "common knowledge"
or save a lot of money and head-scratching
by freeing us to use copper with confidence.

davidstcldfl's comment on pH (and bsfman's counterpoint)
suggest an important variable to be examined as well.

Foodchain, I am fortunate enough to take my water from a creek
which originates in a glacier just above my property.
When I was a youngster, a local murder was solved
when the remains were discovered in the municipal water tank.
By that time there wasn't much left but clothes and bones,
but the local bottled water industry did a booming business for a while...

[foodchain]

You know, there's just some jobs I wish I had never done. Potable water tanks is one of them.
Nasty things. Water treatment plants....you know the big Sh**tanks were more tolerable. At least I know going in what they were.

The problem with the experiment idea, is that there are infinent variables. For instance, PH, ph levels will play a role in how much copper is dissolved. Temp plays a role in how fast/slow the PH will absorb it too. Now factor in salt, etc. To get a trully accurate experiment you would have to find a way to isolate and stabilize each variable or otherwise neutralize it from the equation.
Otherwise you would end up with results for your data....

But not clearly understand what got you there. I have been there, done that and it leaves me looking foolish when I try to explain to someone how to copy the project, and they can't duplicate the same results.

[Shas]

You know, there's just some jobs I wish I had never done.

Ain't that the truth.
I was a pastor for many years,
and working behind the scenes in the church
was similar to working behind the scenes
in the potable water or processed meats industries...

The problem with the experiment idea, is that there are infinent variables.

Not really.
At least, not within the parameters relevant to aquaculture/aquaponics.
The pH need only vary from, say, 6.0 to 8.0
and the temperature from maybe 16 to 30 Celsius.
If we use the extremes and median values
*ie, pH of 6.0, 7.0, and 8.0 and temps of 16, 23, and 30)
that gives us nine iterations to examine.
Even including water hardness would only triple the numbers,
which would be cumbersome but quite do-able.

and they can't duplicate the same results.

That's the scientific method in action.
If it can't be replicated, it ain't true.

[foodchain]

Absolutely true. So who wants to set up 9 identical tanks, idealy in the same room to eliminate any unmeasurable variances that are common in aquaculture and reef aquaria. And present the results?
While I have the tanks, or at least some of them....I don't have the space or time.