Scent Diffusers and Fish Tanks

[icedearth15324]

I know that normally scent diffusers like Glade plugins and B&BW wallflowers should not be placed near fish tanks. Since we have multiple cats, we do still have the plugins throughout the rest of the house.

My wife discovered this thing called Aroma360, which essentially connects directly to the HVAC and pumps the scents throughout the house. It appears to use essential oils to create the smells, kind of like using essential oils in a diffuser/humidifier.

My main concern is this potentially causing issues, but I'm not sure if it would actually cause any issues so I figured I'd see if anyone had any info.

 

[blaxsun]

Hard to say. My best guess would be "maybe". Is there a huge difference between having it on an HVAC over one of the smaller portable essential oil diffusers in another room in the house? Only time will tell...

 

[afrokobe]

if it uses essential oils, some of those essential oils are pretty toxic even to just cats and dogs. I would avoid

 

[icedearth15324]

if it uses essential oils, some of those essential oils are pretty toxic even to just cats and dogs. I would avoid

Yeah we know some oils are toxic to other animals, we would be sure to avoid those. My main concern is if something being in the air could be dangerous to the tank.

 

[LuizW13]

I think there's a good chance you'll be okay if you run carbon in your system.

 

[mrlavalamp]

My main concern is if something being in the air could be dangerous to the tank.

Maybe

I doubt enough people have adopted use of one of these devices to provide a measurable consensus over the already known issues with "plug-in" air fresheners.

Then considering that "safe" is highly dependent on which oil/scent you choose to use in the device. Consider also that much of the research/testing needed to establish what is safe for a reef tank in this particular application has not been done, or anything even remotely close to it.

I think if you use this system you are signing up to be guinea pig #1.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I dont know what is the aroma360, but my wife burns insense and scented oils pretty often, its hard for me to believe it would harm the tank. If you have ceiling fans I would think you should have good ventilation. And also, of all the people that keep aquariums in the world, someone must be using something similar to aroma360. I have never even heard of those plug-in fabreeze things causing any issue's.

On the other hand, I wouldn't trust any suggestion my wife made for my tank

 

[afrokobe]

I dont know what is the aroma360, but my wife burns insense and scented oils pretty often, its hard for me to believe it would harm the tank. If you have ceiling fans I would think you should have good ventilation. And also, of all the people that keep aquariums in the world, someone must be using something similar to aroma360. I have never even heard of those plug-in fabreeze things causing any issue's.

On the other hand, I wouldn't trust any suggestion my wife made for my tank

I've seen a couple of mentions of the glade plug ins causing issues here on the forums. Don't have the links, but I have avoided them and been more cognizant about aerosols after reading them

 

[mrlavalamp]

I dont know what is the aroma360, but my wife burns insense and scented oils pretty often, its hard for me to believe it would harm the tank. If you have ceiling fans I would think you should have good ventilation. And also, of all the people that keep aquariums in the world, someone must be using something similar to aroma360. I have never even heard of those plug-in fabreeze things causing any issue's.

On the other hand, I wouldn't trust any suggestion my wife made for my tank

Folks have reported issues with plug ins and incense causing a range of issues with their corals.

I use incense almost daily ~10ft from my 200 gal tank and I have no issues so far that I could link to the incense.

 

[Wyvern]

Couldn't find out why I suddenly got slime bacteria in sump, a couple days later I discovered a family member placed a plug in oil diffuser under a table near the tank.

A couple days later after removing it, the slime went away.

 

[Markpi]

I have actually done research on the topic and have a blog article on it. (I hate spammers so I won't mention it here, but if you search for "are essential oils safe for fish", the article is usually on the top spot.)

I have used an essential oil product to cure my tropical fish of Columnaris (cotton mouth) with no problems to the other fish. That product had citrus, eucalyptus, neem, and cinnamon essential oils in it.

There are so many species of fish, that what effects one fish might not effect another. I had been worried about treating my aquarium with that product because I have a 30 year old pleco in there, but he was fine.

Where my office is, I have a tropical fish aquarium. Since my company sells essential oils and diffusers, I am always testing out various diffusers and essential oils in my office. Many times, I have the diffuser on the same desk as the aquarium. As far as I can tell, my fish have never had any bad reactions from the diffusers. And I have used probably over 100 different types of essential oils in this room.

The thing about diffusing essential oils is that its such a small amount you are placing in the diffuser. Then it gets further diffused once it hits the atmosphere in your room. Some of the lighter oils can stay hanging around in the air for several hours, but most will fall to the floor within 15 minutes.

I have never seen any kind of slime build up in my water. It seems to me that if that is occurring as a result of using a diffuser nearby, you are using way too much essential oil in that diffuser.

I do not use a carbon filter in that aquarium, just a power filter with a couple of sponges and some of that bonded aquarium filter pad stuff. Plus a bunch of live plants that might help with natural filtration.

That's my 2 cents on the subject.

 

[moreef]

I know that normally scent diffusers like Glade plugins and B&BW wallflowers should not be placed near fish tanks. Since we have multiple cats, we do still have the plugins throughout the rest of the house.

My wife discovered this thing called Aroma360, which essentially connects directly to the HVAC and pumps the scents throughout the house. It appears to use essential oils to create the smells, kind of like using essential oils in a diffuser/humidifier.

My main concern is this potentially causing issues, but I'm not sure if it would actually cause any issues so I figured I'd see if anyone had any info.

I know its old thread but we are looking at this same whole house system and wondering if you got it and if it had any effects on your tank? Anyone else run an essential oil diffuser in house have any issues with tank? Thanks

 

[s1oliver]

We run a diffuser every day on a table that is 6 feet away from one of my tanks and never seen any issues regardless of the oil used. I have a plugin that's used in my office where my other two tanks are and it's across the room about 12 feet away and I've never seen anything weird happen as a result of it. I won't use it in the outlet next to the tank just to be safe but across the room has never been a problem, the ceiling fan never stops so that may help who knows. I use these two methods in lieu of aerosol sprays specifically because of my tanks and so far so good.

 

[moreef]

We run a diffuser every day on a table that is 6 feet away from one of my tanks and never seen any issues regardless of the oil used. I have a plugin that's used in my office where my other two tanks are and it's across the room about 12 feet away and I've never seen anything weird happen as a result of it. I won't use it in the outlet next to the tank just to be safe but across the room has never been a problem, the ceiling fan never stops so that may help who knows. I use these two methods in lieu of aerosol sprays specifically because of my tanks and so far so good.

Thats great to hear. Was hard enough getting the wife to agree on tank I didn’t want another battle lol. Thank You

 

[afrokobe]

Im glad I don't have to deal with this essential oil nonsense.