Killing pests with canisters of liquid CO2 (computer dusters)

redfishsc · 04/24/2009, 07:04 PM

I'm one of those who figured out a while back that using computer dusters the VERY wrong way, holding them upside down, and spraying the liquid was a neat way to freeze things (don't ask.... please!...).

I am suspecting that this stuff might be a good way to quickly and cleanly freeze-kill certain pests on rocks that we can REMOVE from the water. Vermitids, pest anemones, feral cats

.

If it works, it would be so much easier than anything I've done before.

Is there any chemical in these things (such as the bitterant they add to it to keep goofballs from huffing it) that might harm our tanks?

phuzzykins · 04/24/2009, 08:02 PM

Dusters don't contain liquid co2 - they typically contain tetrafluoroethane. Not especially toxic, but not co2.

There's a product called Freeze-It which is basically the same thing but with a dip tube so that the product is expelled as a liquid when the can is held upright. Since there's less potential for abuse, this may not have a bittering agent.

I'll check a can of Freeze-it at work on Monday and report back.

redfishsc · 04/25/2009, 05:32 AM

Hmm. OK--- didn't realize they used a different gas.

Thanks for testing it. Where do you get Freeze-it?

HighlandReefer · 04/25/2009, 07:10 AM

Here is one product that I have used for other purposes:

Anti-Stat MicroFreezeÃ¯Â¿Â½
http://www.action-electronics.com/freezespray.htm

Here is the MSDS Sheet For This Product:
http://web.grcc.edu/Pr/msds/childdev...pecialists.txt

redfishsc · 04/25/2009, 11:04 AM

The MSDS link doesnt' work....

But thanks for the link!

I may still give the computer duster thing a try since I already have one nearby that I'm wasting away by terrifying my wife's cats (not with the freezing liquid!).

04/24/2009, 07:04 PM	#1
redfishsc Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Wake Forest, NC Posts: 3,716	Killing pests with canisters of liquid CO2 (computer dusters) I'm one of those who figured out a while back that using computer dusters the VERY wrong way, holding them upside down, and spraying the liquid was a neat way to freeze things (don't ask.... please!...). I am suspecting that this stuff might be a good way to quickly and cleanly freeze-kill certain pests on rocks that we can REMOVE from the water. Vermitids, pest anemones, feral cats . If it works, it would be so much easier than anything I've done before. Is there any chemical in these things (such as the bitterant they add to it to keep goofballs from huffing it) that might harm our tanks? __________________ "The measure of a life is not its duration but its donation." Corrie Ten Boom “The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins” -- Søren Kierkegaard Current Tank Info: ghetto grad school reef.....11g rimless tank, 36X9X9, lit by Cree and Rebels scobbled together. Stocked mostly with free stuff I got from panhandling my fellow reefers.

04/24/2009, 08:02 PM	#2
phuzzykins Lounge Brephophagist Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Worcester, MA Posts: 684	Dusters don't contain liquid co2 - they typically contain tetrafluoroethane. Not especially toxic, but not co2. There's a product called Freeze-It which is basically the same thing but with a dip tube so that the product is expelled as a liquid when the can is held upright. Since there's less potential for abuse, this may not have a bittering agent. I'll check a can of Freeze-it at work on Monday and report back. __________________ "Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position, but certainty is an absurd position." -- Voltaire. Current Tank Info: 300g AGE mixed reef

04/25/2009, 05:32 AM	#3
redfishsc Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Wake Forest, NC Posts: 3,716	Hmm. OK--- didn't realize they used a different gas. Thanks for testing it. Where do you get Freeze-it? __________________ "The measure of a life is not its duration but its donation." Corrie Ten Boom “The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins” -- Søren Kierkegaard Current Tank Info: ghetto grad school reef.....11g rimless tank, 36X9X9, lit by Cree and Rebels scobbled together. Stocked mostly with free stuff I got from panhandling my fellow reefers.

04/25/2009, 07:10 AM	#4
HighlandReefer Team RC Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Highland, Maryland Entomologist Posts: 14,416	Here is one product that I have used for other purposes: Anti-Stat MicroFreezeÃ¯Â¿Â½ http://www.action-electronics.com/freezespray.htm Here is the MSDS Sheet For This Product: http://web.grcc.edu/Pr/msds/childdev...pecialists.txt __________________ Cliff Babcock Intestests: Digital Microscopy; Marine Pest Control; Marine Plants & Macroalgae Current Tank Info: 180 g. mixed reef system Last edited by bertoni; 04/25/2009 at 01:17 PM.

04/25/2009, 11:04 AM	#5
redfishsc Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Wake Forest, NC Posts: 3,716	The MSDS link doesnt' work.... But thanks for the link! I may still give the computer duster thing a try since I already have one nearby that I'm wasting away by terrifying my wife's cats (not with the freezing liquid!). __________________ "The measure of a life is not its duration but its donation." Corrie Ten Boom “The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins” -- Søren Kierkegaard Current Tank Info: ghetto grad school reef.....11g rimless tank, 36X9X9, lit by Cree and Rebels scobbled together. Stocked mostly with free stuff I got from panhandling my fellow reefers.