I put a mouse pad in my tank to quiet down my pump after a few people said it was ok to put it in there. The one I purchased had something in it and contaminated my tank. So don't take the risk. I found out that some lfs carry a pad that is made to be put under the pump. Hopefully this helps someone else out, learn from my mistake.
dont risk it
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how long after you put the pad in did the first fish die?
very weird... so you put the pad under the return pump in the sump?
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Crazy! That sux to hear. I've used several mouse pads over the years to quiet down pumps.
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For some reason I wouldn't feel good about putting a mouse pad in my tank. It's seems like there could always be a chemical or adhesive that could leech.
It essential a DuPont Teflon or silacone coated mat was it the realy slick ones also check to se if it was made in China it could of had high grafite(sp?) Or lead.
Teflon silacone grafite and lead will poison your fish, corals and mobile inverts can take higher levels of these elements with out much damage.
if your gowing to use a mat to quiet pumps look in to food grade mat it looks like the stuff you line cabinets with but non leaching and safe to
I would wait a month at least before adding new fish. Maybe Do a 5gal wc every other day during that time. And if you realy won't to be safe remove your sump, media reactors, pumps and clean them replace all media,floss,bio material if you use it also you can change out the sand bed (suck out 1/6 every 4days git all of it out before adding new
I'm sorry for your fish losses hope every thing works out for you
Teflon silacone grafite and lead will poison your fish, corals and mobile inverts can take higher levels of these elements with out much damage.
if your gowing to use a mat to quiet pumps look in to food grade mat it looks like the stuff you line cabinets with but non leaching and safe to
I would wait a month at least before adding new fish. Maybe Do a 5gal wc every other day during that time. And if you realy won't to be safe remove your sump, media reactors, pumps and clean them replace all media,floss,bio material if you use it also you can change out the sand bed (suck out 1/6 every 4days git all of it out before adding new
I'm sorry for your fish losses hope every thing works out for you
Hate to disagree, but Teflon and silicone are inert polymers. Teflon is used as a non-stick coating in cooking pans. Silicone is used to glue our tanks together. (maybe you mean silicon, no 'e'?) Graphite is carbon (unactivated) which I've been walking around with a chunk in my hand since 8th grade. Lead is toxic, yes. Personally, I suspect something else. What would kill fish and not inverts? -JMHO
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I agree. It has only been 16 days since you put water in the system. I would stick to your original game plan and slow it down some. Don't make me drive over and give you one of those old man lectures
Man, I hate to hear that bud. :-(
In the spirit of learning from this, I have a question if you don't mind me stepping all over your thread. I am about to build a DIY Top Off. Because I am a cheap old fart, I found some micro-switches in our shop that I want to adapt as floats. My thoughts were to use a piece of rubber or just old fashioned cork as the actual floating mechanism. Can anyone think of why that may be a bad idea?
In the spirit of learning from this, I have a question if you don't mind me stepping all over your thread. I am about to build a DIY Top Off. Because I am a cheap old fart, I found some micro-switches in our shop that I want to adapt as floats. My thoughts were to use a piece of rubber or just old fashioned cork as the actual floating mechanism. Can anyone think of why that may be a bad idea?
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IMO you DON'T want a float switch to fail. DIYing something as cheap as a float switch isn't a great idea in my opinion.
Buy one that works, without the risk of DIY mistakes
