Windex, the silent killer?

[sirfishmaster]

i killed a tank of fish using windex, but i have a double set up 40 on bottom of a 55 gallon...i sprayed the top tank and the mist went into my fry tank thus killing them all this was a bdumb mistake...but i have been directly spraying my tanks glass with windex for 10 years now and have never hadf a death from it. I think the case where this can happen would have to be extreme like they soaked the glass and ledt it there...i dont know i can only go by experience here and with mine is that it cant happen


doug

 

[BillyZ]

although many cleaning solutions are ammonia based, it wouldn't be the ammonia that would case me to be concerned. Most cleaning solutions also have a fair amount of alcohol. THis is what causes it to evaporate quickly for "less streaking". That, the perfumes and dyes would be more concern to me than the amount of ammonia, as ammonia is a natural part of an aquarium. Some cleaning solutions have more chemicals than others. I use, and have used, windex (Basic type, often no-name brands even) to clean my tanks for many many years and have never had "sudden death" after cleaning my tanks. That is NOT to say it can't kill them, I would imagine that if the inhabitants were already weakend through something else, or were extremely senstaive (such as an earlier poster commented on a fry tank) then a small amount of cleaning solution in the water could perhaps cause a problem, but unless you spilled a fair amount into the water, I wouldn't worry about using windex. I will comment that when cleaning, I take extra caution to not let the spray go over the tank.. just to be careful.

And ni regards to glass... I've never heard of glass "breathing" or that it was porus. If I remember correctly, I thought glass actually WAS a liquid. As could be demonstrated in very old windows you could see the glass, over many many years, actually sags. *shrug*

 

[Clown Monarch]

I guess glass is a liquid in the same way ice is a liquid. As far as that goes, everything is a liquid (at the right temperature).

 

[BillyZ]

Is glass a Liquid or a Solid:

the answer: Yes.

 

[RocketSeason]

glass flows downhill. Go to an old house (like 80 to 100 years old.) You will see that the bottom of the windows are thicker than the top.

cool!

 

[BillyZ]

glass flows downhill. Go to an old house (like 80 to 100 years old.) You will see that the bottom of the windows are thicker than the top.

^^^^ *points up to the article he posted*

 

[Phyl]

LOL! I missed the article the first time around too. Pretty funny that he posted that right after your article.

 

[Clown Monarch]

I think old glass looks to be "flowing" because old glass is leaded and naturally has that "wavy" look to it. I don't think it has anything to do with viscosity.

The windows in my house were put there in 1963 and haven't done any "flowing" yet.

 

[BillyZ]

CM: Yep, read the article, my anicdotal comment is, apprently, complete horsepucky

here's another article, which I think reads a little easier and has the same conclusions.

 

[Clown Monarch]

Oh, cool article BZ - I didn't see that "the answer: Yes" was a link.

 

[Clown Monarch]

Hmm...

so there are no "solids" just "supercooled liquids".

 

[Clown Monarch]

Is Silly Putty a liquid or a solid?

 

[midiman]

No!!!!! That would mean that there ar no liquids, just supercooled gases.

Actually, the link billyz used talks about "how we define" solids. Of course if we change the definition of something it can mean whatever we want it to mean (just listen to statements from the White House).

In the strictest sense, scientifically, glass lacks the regular organized structure of a solid, and therefore can't correctly be described as a true solid, as even the article admits. The article invents a fourth state of matter, which I guess is a fair compromise to do for glass since it doesn't neatly fit into either category.

 

[Clown Monarch]

Isn't "plasma" a fourth state?

 

[midiman]

Good point. So, according to that article, we now have 5:

solid, liquid, gas, plasma, and glass

 

[JonSolo]

What about vinegar based windex? Can this be harmful as well?