Let's talk about household items that can kill your tank!

[Aeb1419]

My daughter dumped perfume into the tank so that the fish could smell good.

saved it by doing daily water changes.

 

[Micro-Reefs Aquarium]

My daughter dumped perfume into the tank so that the fish could smell good.

saved it by doing daily water changes.

How did you catch this? Did she come tell you?

 

[Pattys]

Certain scented candles. My wife daughter starting burning one few weeks ago. Stunk the whole house up and within 10 minutes some of my shrooms where balled up ready to bail. Fish even started breathing rapidly and my skimmer lines are ran outside. Just the little bit of fumes that got sucked into my overflows and mixed with water greatly upset my tank. Almost instantly.
Don't burn scented candles. We are staying away from scented anything now.

Really didn’t think scented candles are an issue. But now makes sense.

 

[LRT]

Really didn’t think scented candles are an issue. But now makes sense.

Yeah I've read about the horror stories but finally found out about it the hard way.
Thanks for reminding me here. This is the one you dont want to burn.

 

[hroberge]

be careful with spray wood polishes too !

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Saw a Reddit post today that made me think of this thread. If you're curious as to the extent of the effects of diffusers in your home, this person's eucalyptus oil diffuser was turning all flames in the home orange. Hard not to wonder what else that's doing.

 

[tomboys]

I've never understood scented candles and perfumes. I just think that they all smell disgusting - luckily have a fiancee who feels the same way.

 

[gr8pretender]

Also be careful about washing your hands before putting your hands in the tank ESPECIALLY Dawn dish soap. I had thought I saw the back of my hand a little spot of bubbles right before I stuck my hands in my tank and sure enough when skimmer came on it was foaming like crazy. I spent a couple hours manually skimming the foam to avoid a late night water change and fearing I was going to crash my tank after reading some horror stories with dish soap. I think an emerald crab died from this and maybe a coral IIRC but I got lucky, no other inverts died and all the fish survived. I did a big water change the next day and now even though I’d prefer to clean my hands before I stick them in the tank, I don’t worry about it because what ever is naturally on my hands is definitely not as bad as soap. Or if I do wash, I make sure to thoroughly remove soap and residue.

 

[rusty hannon]

We have had no fish related experience but we did have exotic birds and they r very sensitive, so we have carried over their rules

 

[susanpoythr]

Hi everyone, wanted to start this thread so everyone can chime in on household items that can potentially cause a huge wipeout. For example, burning candles or spraying aerosols near the tank can be deadly. What are some household items or practices you have heard of that can wipe out your entire tank? Please chime in and leave some insight based on your experiences.

Burning a candle in a bathroom is harmful?

 

[AquaLifeStudio]

Absolutely!!! Kids and spouses!!! My wife was mad and drunk one day. She decided to dump a years worth of New Life spectrum pellets in my 54 gallon. Didn’t realize she did it. Woke up the next morning. Living room stunk of ammonia. Bacterial bloom from hell. Lost some fish to this. Was almost grounds for a Divorce. Ammonia was off the charts. 100% water change, prime, and a bottle of Biospira later, things finally returned to normal. I was a very, very angry person. Here’s a before and after.

Im fairly certain that an act like that would absolutely be grounds for divorce. That's actively taking part in causing the deaths of living things. That's some seriously messed up stuff.

 

[GHOSTLY]

A gallon of b l e a c h

 

[Karliefish]

I know I’m joining this thread late….two items concern me:

1) our kitchen is approximately 20 feet from my 365g reef tank. Not overly worried about eating near the tank but do worry about food preparation - especially preparing fried food. Thoughts on this?

2). Have a large wood durning fire place that ventilates nicely up the chimney but know small amounts of smoke are disputing in the room. Thank us approximately 50 feet from fireplace. Any thoughts on this?

thanks in-advance

 

[FurrierTransform]

I know I’m joining this thread late….two items concern me:

1) our kitchen is approximately 20 feet from my 365g reef tank. Not overly worried about eating near the tank but do worry about food preparation - especially preparing fried food. Thoughts on this?

2). Have a large wood durning fire place that ventilates nicely up the chimney but know small amounts of smoke are disputing in the room. Thank us approximately 50 feet from fireplace. Any thoughts on this?

thanks in-advance

If you're venting cooking/oil vapors, I expect you're safe. Do you also see bits of ash around the house when you use your fireplace, or is it just the smoke odor? You might get a bit of ash dust into your tank, but the lid will block most of it. I've never seen any immediate adverse reaction from my cooking, and my stove is closer than your setup.
But now that I saw this thread, I wonder what I should do if I have to fumigate the house ...

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Embrace the Briney scent wafting from that glass box full of oceanic goodness. Nothing says a healthy reef more then that. Reef beads. Lol

 

[Dburr1014]

I know I’m joining this thread late….two items concern me:

1) our kitchen is approximately 20 feet from my 365g reef tank. Not overly worried about eating near the tank but do worry about food preparation - especially preparing fried food. Thoughts on this?

2). Have a large wood durning fire place that ventilates nicely up the chimney but know small amounts of smoke are disputing in the room. Thank us approximately 50 feet from fireplace. Any thoughts on this?

thanks in-advance

My woodstove is in the basement and sometimes when starting a fire it fills up with smoke. My basement sump is about 5/6 feet away. No problems yet after 8 years.

 

[Stang67]

Unsupervised small humans.

 

[EricR]

Curious what people think about ammonia-free Windex (not sprayed near the tank) on a paper towel to clean streaks off front glass,,, then wipe with clean/dry rag or paper towel???

I'm not doing it yet but think I've seen posts on here saying it's safe so just curious.

 

[FurrierTransform]

Curious what people think about ammonia-free Windex (not sprayed near the tank) on a paper towel to clean streaks off front glass,,, then wipe with clean/dry rag or paper towel???

I'm not doing it yet but think I've seen posts on here saying it's safe so just curious.

Rather than risk it, I find wiping with a damp cloth or paper towel, followed by a drying wipe with a piece of newspaper very effective at removing streaks. Newspaper is good for that, which is why you see all the street urchins who offer to clean your windshield using newspaper.

 

[ReeferSamster]

Please chime in and leave some insight based on your experiences.

My wife.