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Question on Scented Home Products/Water Chemistry


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About a year ago, I was living with my girlfriend at the time and I had two tanks set up.  She bought new essential oil diffusers and started using them in the house, but not in the room where I had my shrimp tanks.  Not long after she started using them, I had die-offs in both tanks. My suspicion fell on the diffusers as the culprit but I couldn't prove it.  I'm not sure what exact oil(s) she was using but I think they involved lavender.  I just did several water changes and asked her not to use them, and the die-offs seemed to stop.  I've since moved out into my own place and have both my tanks set up.  I walked into my house the other day and noticed that my house wasn't exactly smelling fresh, mostly due to my dog.  So my question is, does anyone know of any scented home products that will NOT have an adverse affect on water chemistry?  I've heard that the oil from scented candles can get into the water and cause problems.  Are there any particular oils/scents that are tolerable?  Thanks in advance.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi @briscoe,

 

I do not believe that there is such a thing - a scented product shrimp safe. Scented products usually contain volatile chemicals. Worse is scented product using diffuser. The diffuser diffuses not just the scented chemicals but also stabilizers to maintain and stabilize chemicals. Some of them have pretty good solubility in water - you can look them up. If you have aquarium open-top, that is just asking for problems. If you insist on having one, my recommendation would be the following:

 

1.) Have aquarium cover. This will not make your tank chemical proof. But your tank is at least chemical resistant.

2.) Place scented product near the door. This is a problem if you have your tank oriented against the door. As air flows though the door, the air flows toward your tank.

3.) Replace diffuser with scented candles. 

4.) Decrease the number of scented products.

5.) Place your tank in an isolated room away from the scented products.

 

I do not know why you want to use scented products. I am not particularly fan of them. I used to be way back in college since I had uncivilized roommates. The key in removing odor is proper house cleaning and proper air ventilation. FYI, we also have dogs - lots of dogs.

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