B-I-N Primer warning

[SaltBlock]

I primed a room in my apartment with "Zinsser B-I-N shellac based primer" and forgot to turn off my protein skimmer. I had the door to the room shut and I couldn't smell anything outside the room. However, every single mushroom (I had 20-25 of them) was dead/very near death within an hour. The water is quite cloudy as well, but that could be due to the mushrooms I suppose (not too sure about that).

No other corals seemed to be affected by it, but only time will tell now. I have been running carbon and phosphate sponge and neither seem to help the cloudiness.

I have used this primer before, but did not have the skimmer running and it didn't seem to create any problems. Just though I would share this because we all know better than to paint/prime w/ a skimmer turned on but its always interesting (and somewhat humorous) to see what happens when someone screws up and does it anyway.

AEB

[Loverotties]

I'm sorry for your loss.That primmer is VERY strong in the smell and gas in the air.I prime some wood in the next room and it sent off my cabonoxide detector.And I had to leave the detector outside for a day to clear it.

[Rivah Rat]

I think the cloudy water condition is caused by the alcohol in the shellac. Alcohol vapor will mix with the water as the vapors will be in the air that the skimmer pulls in and then mixes in the water.

[SaltBlock]

What was really funny was I realized the skimmer was still running only after I had been exposed to the fumes for about an hour. Go figure.

Yeah, shellac is lac and alcohol I believe. Are there any long term concerns for dissolved alcohol in a reef system. I am in the process of drilling out a new tank to which I will transfer all contents of the current tank. I will also be putting in new sand, so I hope I will be rid of any trapped chemicals.

AEB