Rough summer/concrete dust

[mihaivapler]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

For reasons I won't get in to here, I recently had the porcelain tile floor of my main floor replaced. About 2500 square feet porcelain tiles and an inch of self leveling cement below them were jack hammered out and replaced. Whole process took 6 weeks, during which time I barely had enough access to feed my fish every day, so no water changes or water testing (I spent all of August in a hotel).

I noticed coral damage around the third week, when my entire house was covered in a half inch thick layer of dust. We had the tank enclosure wrapped in plastic, but I had to leave the vent in the bottom cabinet door uncovered so the exhaust fan could keep the tank from cooking. As a result, the inside of the cabinet got as covered in dust as the rest of the house. Frighteningly, the dust appears to have been somewhat magnetic, as I can clearly see the outlines of the magnets holding all my various sump doo-dads through their plastic casing in the dust that settled on them

Im at about 80% coral losses at this point, and it looks unlikely the remaining 20% will survive. I've been doing massive water changes every day since I've had access to the tank again, but every morning another badly damaged colony has rtn'd to white skeleton, and I'm not seeing any signs of improvement.

Does anyone know if self leveling cement/porcelain dust has any metals in it that could nuke a tank? The tiles had a special metallic finish that made them look like polished steel, but they were otherwise standard porcelain.

Anyway, looks like I'm going fish only. If I could brick the whole thing up and forget it ever existed, I would. The tank had finally turned a corner from my early 2014 troubles, and now the coral damage I was seeing back in February/march looks like a tank of the month compared to what it is now.

it more likely from the self leveler,the dust from it..the self leveler contain some pretty nasty chemicals in it which in the moment when you start hammerit starts to get in the air and if you had the vent hole it might get in trough there and then combining with the water turns it in pure poison for you corals..the self leveler contains Ethylbenzene which is known to cause cancer and contains Butyl Benzyl Phthalate known tocause developmental reproductive toxicity..another component is the TITANIUM DIOXIDE which the same it might affected your water....probably the best solution would be to take all the corals out the water and the fish to and empty your tank and start it all over...the rock will contain all this substances to so a good bleach and cure of the rock would be necessary in order to get all the toxic chemicals out..
this is my advice as professional tile setter and fish keeper..

[mihaivapler]

Originally Posted by mihaivapler

it more likely from the self leveler,the dust from it..the self leveler contain some pretty nasty chemicals in it which in the moment when you start hammerit starts to get in the air and if you had the vent hole it might get in trough there and then combining with the water turns it in pure poison for you corals..the self leveler contains Ethylbenzene which is known to cause cancer and contains Butyl Benzyl Phthalate known tocause developmental reproductive toxicity..another component is the TITANIUM DIOXIDE which the same it might affected your water....probably the best solution would be to take all the corals out the water and the fish to and empty your tank and start it all over...the rock will contain all this substances to so a good bleach and cure of the rock would be necessary in order to get all the toxic chemicals out..
this is my advice as professional tile setter and fish keeper..

Found this data sheet for the self leveler..states clearly that affects the aquatic life.

Signal Word.............................................. ..... DANGER.
Hazard Classification.................................... . Skin Irritant 2. Eye Irritant 2. Skin Sensitizer 1. Reproductive 1B. Acute Toxicity 4. Aquatic
Chronic 1.
Hazard Description....................................... . H315 Causes skin irritation. H317 May cause an allergic skin reaction. H319 Causes
serious eye irritation. H332 Harmful if inhaled. H360 May damage fertility or the unborn
child. H410 Very toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects.

Underlayment Self-Leveling contains silica, crystalline
quartz; portland cement; calcium aluminate;
anhydrite; limestone, calcium carbonate; aluminum
oxide; limestone; gypsum

[hillegom]

Sorry to hear about all your problems. Hopefully it will turn around.
So is cutting new tile in the house a standard practice? I know there was a lot of dust made in the demolition, but to cut new tiles in the house to add to the mess doesn't seem right to me.
My neighbour redid his tile and they hung plastic around the job to try to contain the dust. Most of it, can never totally mask everything off. But when the new tiles were cut, they were cut outside.

[gregzz4]

So sorry to read this
I hope you get things turned around

[mihaivapler]

Originally Posted by hillegom

Sorry to hear about all your problems. Hopefully it will turn around.
So is cutting new tile in the house a standard practice? I know there was a lot of dust made in the demolition, but to cut new tiles in the house to add to the mess doesn't seem right to me.
My neighbour redid his tile and they hung plastic around the job to try to contain the dust. Most of it, can never totally mask everything off. But when the new tiles were cut, they were cut outside.

They should use a wet saw to cut the tiles and go outside for when they use the grinder. Unfortunately most of the trades they don't care about your house.they make it easier for them and not to protect your house..just sad for all..the tank was looking awesome lots of colonies....

[monza]

Wow, your like the reef tank punching bag. Sorry for your issues.