Smoking and aquarium
 

Not sure where to really put this thread so hopefully this is the good place. I tried search, but couldn't find any info on this topic.

I have my aquarium in a den. Sometimes when guests come over, they will smoke in that room (once a month or maby twice) I was just curious if that will be a problem. Right now all i got is sand and water in my aquarium/sump and thats it. I will start adding LR and everything else slowly over the next few months, but I just wanted to check about smoking in the same room and what effects can it have, if any.

Also, my cousins were here for last 2 weeks and one of them smokes quite a bit, so that room had a lot of smoke in it. Just wanted to check if anything could have entered the water, that shouldn't be there, and in turn if I should change the water, or if it would be safe to leave it as it is and go on.

Thanks for the help.

Well I can't offer any scientific advise, but after going for quite some time with quiting smoking, I relapsed a few months ago and now smoke in my fish room. (only room in house where allowed.) I have seen no ill effects that I can attribute to smoking other than I can't afford all the fancy stuff I want due to the money went up in smoke! :rolleyes:

A little while back there was a thread on painting near fish tanks. I would think that if you have a large protien skimmer that is sucking a lot of air that the chemicals that are in the smoke would get sucked into the water. And from all those commercals on TV that show what is in the cigarettes I would not want that in my water.

I remember when we smoked in the house, the air hoses went completely yellow in no time at all. That was the end of that !

It's not good for you either - make them go outside. :mrgreen:

We do not allow smoking at all in our condo, even though both husband and I are smokers. If we want to smoke, we go out onto the balcony - rain, shine or blizzard!

The only way I could see it causing a problem is through an air pump. But the amount that would actualy get to the tank would be very minimal and with a larger tank it would be even more diluted.

Thanks for the replies.

Unfortunatelly we do not have a balcony, so our den acts as one, since it's the closest thing to it. My tank is 33 gallon + 10 gallon sump. As far as I know and can tell, no air is ever drawn into the skimmer, so that shouldn't be a problem, and as I mentioned it is only 1 or 2 times a month and that is less then 5 smokes for both times.

If anyone else has any info or a view on this, please chime in.

Thanks again

Your skimmer draws no air? How do you get the bubbles? :confused:

I think any smoke in the room will eventully enter the water as dissolved solids. However, it's probably to a very very minor degree unless youre exhaling directly into the venturi. Is it possible to open a window while they smoke to help it clear a bit? Afterall, you don't want your room to smell like an old pool hall regardless if you have a tank or not!

As said, open a window and if your worried about it, turn off your skimmer until the smoke clears. I turn off my skimmer when I burn a whack of candles.

honestly - i did smoke in the house near the tank the fish when the canopy is open and the fish did take off behind the rocks - really strange - it has happend twice and it is so out of character for my fish - normally i don't smoke in the house but after that i don't at all. Related??? i have no idea but they did react both times with canopy open (didn't when the canopy was closed)

canopy open means food = eating right out of the cup

I just don't anymore - they just remind me that i have to give up this bad habit.

Personal experiance only
Cheers
Rich

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This is a really interesting topic.
Has anyone put your hand in your tank after having a smoke? Did you see the reaction of your corals? Remember that an aquarium is in one form or another a big lung that is always absorbing O2, skimmer or no skimmer. We all know that second hand smoke contains elevated levels of CO2 and CO which are absorbed by othe lungs and definatley aquariums. Elevated CO2 will cause your Ph to drop overtime, though I'm not sure how long.

There's not much you can do about protecting the surface of the water against toxins short of sealing the tank and venting it outside. But as far as skimmers go, build a carbon bong for the air intake and that should help.

Hey Danny, thanks for the info, only one question though, how do you make a carbon bong???? hahaha

:mrgreen:

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I knew someone would ask that.
Using a jar with a lid, fill it with water and put carbon in the water.
Using airline tubing, feed the line from the air pump (or free air) down through one hole in the lid of the jar to the bottom of the water.
Then feed the airline that goes to your skimmer into another hole in the lid, above the water.
This makes all of the air that enters the skimmer go through the water in the jar. The carbon filters the water and cleans inpurities out of it. Same concept as a bong, only for a much better use. :biggrin: (debatable)