aggghh!!

[newstu]

OK - today was the big day 3 weeks down the line, LFS tested water yesterday, all hunky dory and perfect so they said I could take some fish home. So I have a few days off work to get fish and do some Xmas shopping etc. Also I have a builder coming to lay a screed and DPM on my kitchen / conservatory floor close to where my tank is. I am just about to leave for the LFS when I noticed that one of the boxes the builder is carrying in has the words 'Marine Pollutant' on it - I asked him about it and he said that it is a solvent free epoxy resin based fluid to seal the floor before screeding. I have researched the product and found the following warning -
ECOTOXICITY
The product contains substances which are toxic to aquatic organisms and which may cause long term adverse effects in the aquatic
environment.

I am not going to risk getting fish for a few days now - I'm p'ed off that I cant but I'm glad I noticed!

Am I being over-paranoid here as the tank is covered??

PS - apparently the latex based self levelling screed that they are putting down tomoro gives off an ammonia like smell!

 

[ArkyLady]

What size tank are we talking about? I'd probably try to move it into a different room until the fumes are all gone, they can settle onto/into your tank and still cause you problems. If it can't be moved, at least cover it well with plastic to help keep anything out of it.

Have you been fishless cycling your tank by adding ammonia? Or was the tank just sitting empty for 3 weeks? Sorry if this was covered in another topic that I missed.

 

[qtaquaman]

Concern

I'd suggest turning off your filter (esp. sponge/ air driven) covering the tank with plastic and after the fumes are gone drain the water and replace it, turn the filter back on and add cycle or stress zyme.After a couple of days recheck the water parameters.

 

[OrionGirl]

If it's producing ammonia as a by-product, it could cause a problem for an established tank (introducing more ammonia to the system), but a fishlessly cycled tank, no fish added, should be able to tolerate the slight increase of ammonia resulting from fumes. I wouldn't add fish, but I wouldn't take an drastic steps other than covering the tank. Do NOT turn off the filter--this will result in the bacteria starving, not a good thing. Most often, the products with these warnings should not be used in an aquarium, but are tolerable within the same room as the tank.

 

[Megatron]

And dont bother with the products cycle or stress zyme. These dont do anything. The only actual bottled nitro-bacteria is from marinelabs but as they dont sell it in canada I dont know if it works or not.