Sodium Hydroxide in bleach…ugh

[Flame2hawk]

I started sterilizing my tank(long story) and used bleach that has both Sodium hypochlorite and Hydroxide(used in soap but no other ingredients mentioned). Should I be worried.

Below are responses from a chemist on various questions I asked. He admittedly is not an aquarist and has no experience sterilizing tanks to get rid of ailments.

Friend of mine knows a chemist who i just spoke to. He said various things which were not good news…..
- there w/b no reason to add Hydroxide to bleach if it wasn’t to include soap which in his mind makes sense as its used primarily for laundry.
- said sud’s will not stop until diluted which will take much longer in salt water. His estimate is a week or more. Worse in first couple of days. Explains why today is worse.
- his view is that bleach is strong and does not discriminate between killing bacteria, parasites and the like from also attacking silicon. His view that at the very list the longevity of the seal has been compromised as 1 1/2-2 gallons in 625g is high concentration
-he can’t believe anything could live after 6-10hours, never mind 2-3 or 5 days but admits he’s not an expert in killing saltwater aquarium parasites.
-his view is that the tank water quality has likely been compromised with some soap ingredient even if not listed as the suds are just too much. ( i showed him video)
- he thinks there are little options at this point as the only thing that would clear it out is an industrial waste treatment RODI machine which would also desalinate the water to some extent. He believes best bet is to drain the tank and sump right away. Flush it out as good as possible by Adding conditioned tap water. Drain again then add RO water with salt and filtrate with carbon before adding test fish


PLEASE help on these issues I am over 24 hours in and have to decide what to do next….thx.

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

Why do you keep mentioning soap? Did you add only sodium hydroxide and sodium hypochlorite? almost all household bleach bleach ( hypo) has some amount of sodium hydroxide in it! They put it in to slow decomposition. what concentration was the gsllon and a half at?

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

My guess is the ammonia in your tank is reacting with the hypo. Has nothing to do with the trace amount of caustic sodium hydroxide they add to the bleach mixture to prolong shelf life.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Very confused person giving you advice in your first post. ignore it all. People intentionally dose sodium hydroxide all the time.

All it does is raise pH and alk.

People also bleach empty tanks.

Can you back up and explain what you did and why?

 

[Cell]

So you tried bleaching your tank to sterilize and the product you use is causing excess suds? Take a pic of the bleach you used and post it here.

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

Very confused person giving you advice in your first post. ignore it all. People intentionally dose sodium hydroxide all the time.

All it does is raise pH and alk.

People also bleach empty tanks.

Can you back up and explain what you did and why?

How am I confused. He’s getting soap bubbles and a says he’s only adding bleach and caustic Neither cause excessive foaming. If he didn’t add a surfactant where are the The bubbles are coming fTom? Would like to see the SDS on that bleach.

 

[Flame2hawk]

Very confused person giving you advice in your first post. ignore it all. People intentionally dose sodium hydroxide all the time.

All it does is raise pH and alk.

People also bleach empty tanks.

Can you back up and explain what you did and why?

After treating fish for uronema and possibly other ailments and failing, I was encouraged to sterilize with bleach and start over. It’s a 625 g tank. I took out much of my rock to bleach separately. About 100 pounds remains in DT with sand. I treated with 11/2 - 2 g’s about 27 hours ago. Was going to leave it in for 4-5 days but am now concerned with seal integrity and cant keep up with the suds being produced even at very low flow rate! Help!

 

[Flame2hawk]

In case interested, after 1 hour formalin bath, fish are being treated in containers also with formalin (low dose- 1 ml per 10g’s).

 

[Cell]

Splashless/low splash bleach is bad to use as far as I know. I think detergent is added. You need just plain bleach.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

How am I confused. He’s getting soap bubbles and a says he’s only adding bleach and caustic Neither cause excessive foaming. If he didn’t add a surfactant where are the The bubbles are coming fTom? Would like to see the SDS on that bleach.

I meant first post in the thread, not the first response (yours).

He said he got comments from a chemist. That's the confused person I was referring to.

 

[Miami Reef]

I tried using google, but I can’t seem to understand what they add to some bleach to make them splashless. I obviously see excessive foaming, so I’m pretty sure activated carbon and skimming would take care of it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

After treating fish for uronema and possibly other ailments and failing, I was encouraged to sterilize with bleach and start over. It’s a 625 g tank. I took out much of my rock to bleach separately. About 100 pounds remains in DT with sand.

What exactly was in he tank when you added bleach, and how much did you add?

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

10-4. The mistake is calling splashless bleach hypo. its got fragrances and surfactants That’s the soap bubble source.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I tried using google, but I can’t seem to understand what they add to bleach to make it splashless. I obviously see excessive foaming, and I’m pretty sure activated carbon and skimming would take care of it.

Typically its a high molecular weight polymer to increase viscosity.

I suspect the suds are from the bleach reacting with lots of organism tissues, making lots of fatty acid and other surfactants.

 

[Miami Reef]

What exactly was in he tank when you added bleach, and how much did you add?

I don’t think any large organism was in the tank. I thought he just accidentally used splashless bleach, and now he thinks his rocks and sand is no good anymore.

 

[Flame2hawk]

Splashless/low splash bleach is bad to use as far as I know. I think detergent is added. You need just plain bleach.

Didn’t list any detergent on bottle but would make sense based on the suds which are crazy. Trying to figure out next steps since the stuff is already in there for last 27 hours.

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

I tried using google, but I can’t seem to understand what they add to some bleach to make them splashless. I obviously see excessive foaming, so I’m pretty sure activated carbon and skimming would take care of it.

Most regulat household bleach is around 5 percent hypo, Splashless is normally around 1 percent hypo. dont use splashes for you aquariums , just to whiten clothes

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

Rinse the tank out let water sit for hours and aerate. Get the bubbles out. Drain, repeat a bunch of times. Use ro/di for your final rinse and fill.

 

[Flame2hawk]

Most regulat household bleach is around 5 percent hypo, Splashless is normally around 1 percent hypo. dont use splashes for you aquariums , just to whiten clothes

Ok but already in there now…..what to do?

 

[Flame2hawk]

Rinse the tank out let water sit for hours and aerate. Get the bubbles out. Drain, repeat a bunch of times. Use ro/di for your final rinse and fill.

I appreciate your feedback but the tank is 650g’s!