Sheetrock Dust in my Tank?!

[jciwlsn]

There's been some construction going on in the basement of our house for the last couple months. As much as I've tried keeping the basement door closed, sheetrock dust has gotten in the house (man, that stuff gets EVERYWHERE) and I'm afraid it's gotten into my tank. Have had some minor diatom blooms, maybe more so from the clowns swishing the sand. Also from the dust???

Can this be harmful to the tank? :rolleyes:

[yaktop]

nto sure what else but definately will screw up your PH - its very alkaline.

[jciwlsn]

I've been a little lax on testing lately - the PH tends to be on the lower side in my tank, maybe it helped to level out to a constant 'perfect PH'???!! I could be on to some thing here......I wish

[tstone]

Hi Jackie http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/r/happy.gif

[jciwlsn]

Hey Marvin, what have you been up to lately? Are you behaving????? ;)

[tstone]

No fun behaving.

[jciwlsn]

Yeah, life can get pretty boring without stirring things up once in a while......:fun1:

Where'd you get that cute smiley? I've been checking the internet for some, but either can't find any decent ones, or I end up downloading 30 popups I can't get rid of....:eek1:

[tstone]

There are a bunch here. No pop up stuff.www.sofrayt.com (http://www.sofrayt.com)

http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/h0/jump.gif

[jciwlsn]

Thanks Marvin, these are great - you just created a monster in me with these! http://smilies.sofrayt.com/1/a0/stounge.gif http://smilies.sofrayt.com/1/u/bandit.gifhttp://smilies.sofrayt.com/1/u/ninja.gifhttp://smilies.sofrayt.com/1/u/heykitty2.gif

Good grief, I didn't see all of them until now, some of them are, well, now I'm embarrassed :o There's a smiley there for everybody http://smilies.sofrayt.com/1/1/innocent.gif

[tstone]

Yeah some are pretty cool. When I first got them I was putting them in everything. went nuts.
http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/_950/drunkard.gif

[jciwlsn]

Just the thing to spice up my email at work http://smilies.sofrayt.com/1/s/diablo.gif

[MattM]

Sheetrock is made from the mineral gypsum.

The chemical formula of gypsum is CaSO4-2H20, in other words, hydrated calcium sulphate.

Nothing to worry about. In fact, gypsum was originally formed when ancient oceans evaporated.

Matt Marulla
http://www.inlandreef.com

[jciwlsn]

Thanks Matt, it's a relief to know I haven't been slowly poisoning my tank. Fascinating info.......

What on earth are you doing up at 3:00am?? http://smilies.sofrayt.com/1/l0/redeyes.gif

[MattM]

Originally posted by jciwlsn
What on earth are you doing up at 3:00am?? http://smilies.sofrayt.com/1/l0/redeyes.gif

Occupational hazard of having an interest in astronomy. :)

Matt Marulla
http://www.inlandreef.com

[Ewan]

Originally posted by MattM
Sheetrock is made from the mineral gypsum.

The chemical formula of gypsum is CaSO4-2H20, in other words, hydrated calcium sulphate.

Nothing to worry about. In fact, gypsum was originally formed when ancient oceans evaporated.

Matt Marulla
http://www.inlandreef.com

This is why I make the 3 hour trip to your store. This is the kind of information tht no one else can provide. :D


E.

[NH_Reef]

Hey Matt,
When's astronomy daily going to be open?
Not only can I give you almost all of my money for corals and dry goods, but if I have anything left over, I can spend it on the way out of Inland. I wanted to add another a servo to my scope....
The wife will really cringe when I go there now.

[MattM]

Originally posted by NH_Reef
When's astronomy daily going to be open?

Getting Inland Reef up and running has been the priority, that and making the building inspectors happy with the new exit stairs.

I wouldn't expect anything until after the new year...


Matt Marulla
http://www.inlandreef.com

[Scuba_Dave]

Another thread I'm glad I read. I was concerned about sheetrock dust also.

[Marco67]

Renewed interest here also. They just finished hanging 60+ sheets 1st coating today.
Looks like there will be two issues or stages.
This thread so far is dealing with "sheet rock dust" or GWB.
This dust was/is in the air during hanging (cutting fitting etc)

Next there is sanding Joint compound Is this Dust different ?!

From the SheetRock brand compound bucket:
Ingredients
Dolomite cas 16389-88-1
Limestine cas 1317-65-3
water cas 7732-18-5
talc cas 14807-96-6
mica cas 12001-26-2
vinyl acetate polymer cas 9003-20-7
ethylene-vinyl acetete polymer cas 24937-78-8

[wrassefan]

Should be the same stuff. It is basically joint compound mix pressed between paper. The only issue is if they use green board or blue board. The green board is treated to resist water and the blue board is treated to slow down drying when applying veneer plaster. With what I dunno.

[tstone]

I am not sure but I think this makes it different.
vinyl acetate polymer cas 9003-20-7
ethylene-vinyl acetete polymer cas 24937-78-8
In any case these ingredients are what I would be concerned with. The rest I think are fairly harmless.

Marc if I'm not mistaken your pumps and air intakes are all in the basement. Correct?
If thats the case just throw a plastic drop over the tank while you are working. Careful of the lights.
That should take care of it.

[Marco67]

I'm all set ...Thanks Mr. Stone said, plastic and it was easy.
Just thought I'd toss that out while I had the bucket right here!