magnesium danger

[shabreeson]

I am in college, and my parents are taking care of my 55 gallon that I thankfully only have a royal gramma and a tomato clownfish presently and my father put in a 7 up bottle filled with magnesium into the tank thinking it salt water. thankfully magnesium is not very soluble in water and he did not shake it.

Will everything in my tank die?
just the fish?
or all invertebrates?

 

[ERICinFL]

Are we talking a 12oz bottle or 2L bottle? If it's 12oz, no problem, 2L might cause some problems. It takes a lot of Mag to raise your tank substantially, so it would also depend on the concentration you mixed it to.

 

[szwab]

have them test the water to be safe
but I would think you are ok if it was a 12 oz bottle.

Next time you are home mark all your additives clearly

 

[shabreeson]

it was a 2L bottle

 

[szwab]

I would do a water change. Just the change in water parameters might be stressful enough to cause harm. The magnesium would also likely effect your alkalinity levels.

 

[Aquarist007]

I agree with the water change--when in doubt it is the old faithful way to go
I would measure your magnesium level also before you really worry about it.

 

[Aquarist007]

I am curious as to why they were putting saltwater directly into the tank to begin with.

 

[shabreeson]

I don't know I tell them and they forget, tell and forget. a bit of a viscous cycle... they didn't actually put salt water in so essentially they don't know what is going on.

 

[chrowski]

I'm no Mg expert but from what everyone else is saying, it sounds less critical that he dumped Mg in your tank then it would be in a 55g if he dumped that much salt in the tank. ...lucky you!

 

[shabreeson]

probably need to hide the windex in case he wants to clean the inside of the tank

I was just hoping that he didn't sterilize my tank or something of the sort when he did put it in.

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10966407#post10966407 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shabreeson
probably need to hide the windex in case he wants to clean the inside of the tank

I was just hoping that he didn't sterilize my tank or something of the sort when he did put it in.

there is some wisdom there---when you go away lock up all your chemicals so there is nothing for them to experiment with.