Ants nesting in sump cable trays

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Difrano

Difrano

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Long time no posting here. My tank is doing great but today discovered that ants are nesting in the cable trays, I just discovered it when I moved some cables today and millions of ants came out from the cable trays, I place a Terro bait on top of the EB832 that you can see on the pics. Being electronic engineer I know ants like to nest in electronics and they can short circuit and burn them. I assume they are nesting there because they are near water, they have abundance of salt creep and organic material. Now how do I get rid of them without nuking my tank? I don't think the Terro bait will do much.
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Thanks
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
I'm sure it would be a hassle but I would pull all of those electronics out of there and clean all of the ants out. Then put them back and add the terro
 
Deltec
bummer.. modify a vacuum hose ,suck em out
 
Suck up what you can with a shop vac, remove the cords and raceway, squish any straggler ants and wipe everything clean. That would be the safest way. However if it were my house I’d be employing some kinda chemical ant killer or trap as well. Gross ;-(
 
Not the best pics. Could they be termites?
 
Tidal Gardens
Jgg12002 said:
Not the best pics. Could they be termites?
Click to expand...
This is what I was thinking when I first looked. They do look like they have an elongated segment but termites are typ white from what I've seen. Also never seen a sworm that dense of termites. Not sure if its true or not but have heard that they sleep in the ground, not in the wood they're eating.
 
Deltec
Hard to tell from pic, I’m sure you have looked but sharing pic from web just in case. Good luck.
J.
 

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Top Shelf Aquatics
You sure theyre ants? Looks like termites

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Thanks for your reply, I was trying to avoid the teardown but I think is the safest way. They are sugar ants I have some showing in the kitchen when my kids leave sugary food out, I was guessing where the nest would be.... Now I know ;Facepalm .
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
BRS
That's a good question. Cable lines are over the sump itself?
Just googled, and found this..

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
What was the value?

I'm not convinced it is especially important, but it is easy to dose. Cheap if you use a DIY.

I discuss some aspects here:

Boron In A Reef Tank
https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/12/chemistry

If you have a test kit, and want to supplement boron, you can also just use borax (from the grocery store; borax is 21.5% boron by weight) dissolved in water. One teaspoon will weigh about 4 grams, so 1 teaspoon in a 100 gallon tank will raise the boron level by 0.21 mM (2.3 ppm)."
Click to expand...
 
Shon said:
That's a good question. Cable lines are over the sump itself?
Just googled, and found this..
Click to expand...
Wow, learned something new I was always told borax was a pesticide and dangerous to living organisms. Thanks for sharing.
 
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