Bleach Mishap

[silentfilms]

My wonderful, elderly mother in all her wisdom accidentally added "a tiny drop" of Clorox Splashless Bleach to a brand new 5gal tank. No fish inside, just two ferns. She's using fine white sand for substrate and has a Whisper 10i filter.

Any chance of salvaging anything in this tank or should I resign to throwing everything out?

 

[Cichlid Kid]

I'd do a huge pwc for starters. Was it cycled yet?

 

[silentfilms]

Nope, not cycled - just sitting there filled with water and a couple of plants. I'll let her know that she needs to empty and refill it if she can, otherwise it'll have to wait until Saturday.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Has the bleach got any fragrances, etc? If not its fine to do a 100% water change and dose dechlorinator.

 

[silentfilms]

No fragrance. However it does have two ingredients that differ from regular Clorox.

Cetyl betaine: "Beyond its ability to clean soils, Cetyl betaine is used to thicken cleaning formulas and stabilize foam."

Sodium xylene sulfonate: "...is generally used to stabilize other ingredients in a cleaning product to maximize effectiveness of the formula. It is also useful as a co-thickener (in combination with other ingredients) in cleaning products."

Both are surfactants. :/

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I think with a 100% change, a bit if extra dechlorinator and maybe some carbon and it'll be fine. One drop is nothing really.

 

[jetajockey]

I agree, just empty it out and refill it. If really concerned then repeat that a few times, but a single drop is not likely to do much harm.