Help. Latex paint chips in tank?

[eyegoggler]

This is a question for the experts about long term impacts from a current paint problem. I have a operational 75g reef tank (35g sump, 8g fuge) that has been somewhat dormant for ~6months (no light to kill off bad algea outbreak following long trip away). One blenny and some mushrooms, snails and hermits are all that are in the tank.

I was preping to rebuild this comming weekend and just noticed the fuge (above the tank) has a major problem. The past two years the fuge has sat adjacent to a wall in my house and the spray has slowly eaten away at the drywall it sits next to - resulting in small pieces of latex paint and drywall (gypsum) falling into it. This has apparently been occuring for some time with what I'd guess to be ~2-3 teaspoons worth of paint and gypsum crumbs missing from the wall - and absorbed in the tank. I don't think this has had any negative short term impact on the tank so my question is about long term concerns as I rebuild.

Is this a toxic problem that will slowely kill inhabitants and all current tank contents need to be scrapped? or can I do a massive water change, fix the wall problem and rebuild with existing sand, LR, macro algae and other inhabitants?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Len]

I think it ultimately depends on how old your paint is. Newer production paints (90s on down) are all generally "eco friendly" and not toxic to humans. Older paints often contain toxic substances like lead and mecury. Large water changes may be all you need. I would recommend you clean out the sump/refugium completely, replacing all the substrate if possible. And of course, move the tank away from the wall.

 

[Anonymous]

IMO a very small amount over two years in a refug full of macros should present no problem to your tank. especially if the inverts and shrooms are showing no ill effects.

But your experience is very noteworthy. Especially noting the damage to the house around the fuge.