Odd Question about Carpet Shampooing around a Fish Tank

[joshuakenneth]

Hello everyone.

I have heard some horror stories about people using Carpet Cleaners around their fish tanks and having disastrous results. I haven't shampooed the carpet since getting a tank but here is the setup. I have a 90-gallon tank with corner overflow with Glass Tops and the bottom of the tank sits about 3 feet off the ground on the stand.

The front of the stand has a magnetic cover on it and behind it is my 29-gallon sump that is completely open inside the stand.

My carpet shampooer is my Kirby Vacuum which cleans via foam rather than a spray. So the question is can I use this thing in the same room as the fish tank without adverse effects or do I need to give it a wide berth?

My wife wants to clean the carpets in the living room and I want to make sure we aren't going to do any damage to the tank.

 

[joshuakenneth]

Hello everyone.

I have heard some horror stories about people using Carpet Cleaners around their fish tanks and having disastrous results. I haven't shampooed the carpet since getting a tank but here is the setup. I have a 90-gallon tank with corner overflow with Glass Tops and the bottom of the tank sits about 3 feet off the ground on the stand.

The front of the stand has a magnetic cover on it and behind it is my 29-gallon sump that is completely open inside the stand carpet cleaner in Plymouth.

My carpet shampooer is my Kirby Vacuum which cleans via foam rather than a spray. So the question is can I use this thing in the same room as the fish tank without adverse effects or do I need to give it a wide berth?

My wife wants to clean the carpets in the living room and I want to make sure we aren't going to do any damage to the tank.

thanks in advance for any help

 

[Aiken Drum]

I can only comment on my own personal experience, but we carpet shampooed/ vacuumed without any problems. I don't have a sump though and my aquarium isnt marine. Other people's experience may vary though.

I notice your post is a cut and paste of this thread on another forum from 2018 though, so I'm not sure whats going on here.

Odd Question about Carpet Shampooing around a Fish Tank

Okay, I have heard some horror stories about people using Carpet Cleaners around their fish tanks and having disastrous results. I haven't shampooed the carpet since getting a tank but here is the setup. I have a 90 gallon tank with corner overflow with Glass Tops and the bottom of the tank...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

If you’re worried about it, wrap some trash bags around the bottom of the stand, and try to cover the top until you feel any aerosolized cleaner particles have settled down. I’d also run carbon during and for a week or so after as a safety measure, again, if you’re worried about it. Unfortunately I’d assume situations like these are very anecdotal and I wouldn’t rely on what people think or what has happened, I’d just trust your gut and do what you feel is necessary to protect your system.

 

[Andy Sager]

I'll add that if you have any air operated items that require an air pump, you want to turn the pump off during the process and not turn on until after airing out the home. Any fumes coming from the shampoo will get into the water if the pump is running. I'd cover the sump as well so that there is no exchange of gases until after the house is aired out.
I'm one of those who actually had a customer with this situation only it was with washing the tile floor. Every 6 weeks this person had a wipeout. He'd bring in water to have me test and the results were perfect so it was a mystery. :^s I finally made a house call to his home and it turned out that the maid came every 6 weeks while the person was at work and she was washing the floor with a bleach mixture. The air pump was inside the stand cabinet with an open back and was picking up the chlorine fumes and killing the fish. Once he had the maid unplug the pump before washing the floor and then airing out the house before plugging it back in, he suffered no more fish losses every 6 weeks. : thumb: