I have an indoor fountain that I would like to add bleach to, but the spigot is copper. Would the combination corrode the copper? I want to keep the algae at bay
If the copper is coated, everything should be okay. If the copper is bare, bleach will oxidize it.
Copper is Cu and Bleach is CaOCl2 There are no adverse reactions if the amount of bleach is reasonable. You can add the bleach but don't flood it with too much.
I wouldn't chance it. The chlorine in bleach may react with the copper and that could ruin your fountain. Check out the article I found to learn more.
Bleach most likely WILL corrode copper. The reduction potential for ClO- (the main component in bleach) is 0.89V. The reduction potential for Cu is 0.34V or 0.52V depending on the final oxidation state. This means that ClO- is a strong enough oxidizing agent to corrode your copper spiggot. However, It is likely that there is some type of corrossion layer on your copper that is protecting it from further corrossion. If your copper is dark brown, or greenish-blue, this is eveidence of such a protective layer, in which case you should be able to add the bleach without worrying much about the copper corroding any more than it already has. If you copper is very shiney and you do not control the pH of the water, then its likely there is a protective varnish on the copper, so you wouldn't want to add bleach since it could ruin the varnish and the shiney color that you love so much! As a side note, if you already have algea in there and you want to clean it, be sure to use a caustic cleaner rather than an acidic one. Acid will greatly accelerate the rate of corrossion of copper.
