Just found 2 AA bateries rotting in my sump

[newtank]

Not sure if i should panic yet, don't have time anyway. Just looked down and it appears that my two year old twins have thrown two AA batteries into the bottom of my sump. I have no idea how long they have been there, but were corroded pretty bad. I pulled out all the pieces that I could see. I have not ran any tests yet. It's 150g cube with about a 50g sump. Everything looks ok, some corals have had color fading, but I'm sure its past due for a bulb change. So should I just take a PH reading, I can only do a 30g water change as that is all i have ready. Not sure what to do/

[tnyr5]

if it makes you feel better I had this happen to an sps tank once , the batteries were in the tank for at least 4 days and most of the sps recovered in about a month. Do some big water changes asap & run carbon & pray!

[James404]

I would run plenty of carbon and change what water you can. The main thing that batteries leak is Potassium hydroxide which I am not sure of how this would affect an aquarium. Perhaps some chem wiz's can chime in on that.

[newtank]

Update
Ph 8.2 several sample points, seems pretty stable.
Maybe I should check alk/
Thinking that batteries are acidic, but maybe caustic so my PH will rise/

[rgulrich]

I'd recommend running both GAC and Polyfilter to cover the bases (and metals).
Ray

[muppet]

++Polyfilter

[Der ABT]

what kinda batteries, newer or older, i had a POS aquachef batter that fell into my tank, it was the old crappy battery where the center core/electrode whatever you call that thing and it could be pulled out not like the current alkali batteries like durcell/energizer.

it killed about 80-90% of my sps. It was in there for a matter of hours, i saw top of the battery in the overflow and went ***, all my sps where spewing out slime, fish, crabs, etc etc all looked stressed out. Poly pad helped some but it was too late for most things. that was the last time i used those crap batteries over my tank/not to mention ensuring things are double taped with metal duct tape etc. almost left reefing after that.

I hope your batter didnt spew it all out, heavy metals and acidic. From the sounds of it you got luckly.

note to self... cover all opening to tank before 6month old daughter becomes 2.

[mike_cmu04]

Chances are if they have been in there long enough to rot the worst of whatever would happen already has.

[disc1]

I would run plenty of carbon and change what water you can. The main thing that batteries leak is Potassium hydroxide which I am not sure of how this would affect an aquarium. Perhaps some chem wiz's can chime in on that.


Potassium hydroxide raises pH, but there's so little in a AA battery that you shouldn't notice. KOH is a pretty common thing to use to raise the pH of some of your buffer additives. It is surely not toxic. I would be more worried about the metals.

[elijaher]

Sound to me you got lucky on that one. Potassium hydroxide is harmless.

[newtank]

My LFS doesn't carry polyfilter, I had some ROX carbon, so I changed out the filter socks and added the carbon to the bottom. I dont have a pump for my TLF's reactor so I can't fluidize the carbon. So far so good, all the invert's seem fine. Just have to wait and see. I have 6 kids and these twins have been the biggest challenge, I have pulled baby wipes, paper towels, all kinds of toys, and now batteries out of my sump. Even with child locks, they have figured out how to open up the cabinets. I keep telling my self, "its just a phase". Thanks for the support, I appreciate it.

[bertoni]

I agree with using GAC and a Polyfilter. Even one from an online vendor might arrive in time to help.

[scubasteve06]

sounds like time for a basement sump with a locking door handle!!!! lol

[neoalchemist74]

Add seachem cuprisorb to your list I helped me get over a corroded stainless steel magnet that was wiping out my reef.

[watchguy123]

That is a scary accident on many fronts.

[clownfreak]

You might think about putting a deadbolt, or other keyed lock on your sump doors. I think you need to try to solve this problem before they put something that will do damage in there.

[OwenInAZ]

Chances are if they have been in there long enough to rot the worst of whatever would happen already has.

+1 if your coral/livestock are doing all right, just continue on with your normal schedule of water changes/carbon/whatever and think about installing a lock on the door.

No need to freak out and do massive water changes or big chemical treatments unless there's an actual need. Could stress things out worse than this.