Bleach?

[timmie2]

I always use bleach to clean my equipment, and so far no problems. Just rinse, rinse, rinse, then allow to dry before reusing. Also overdose with declorinator. Gets rid of the nasties!
Timmie2

 

[soritan]

Yeah, I bleach just about everything before I introduce it. I sort of eye-ball it, glug some in, dilute with bunches of water, let sit between 1 and 4 hours (however long it takes for me to remember it's sitting in the bathtub), and then rinse out many times. I also let it dry over night and rinse one more time before use. The absorbant plastic story still makes me wonder if I should rinse even more, before I add fish. Stuff like that makes me nervous.

 

[Inchworm]

My mom used to be a lab tech at a major trauma center for decades. Any cleaning, especially after incidents of spilled body fluids, was cleaned up with a 1:20 mixture of bleach & water. It kept my mom safe from any bacterial or viral pathogens for many years, I figured the same mix should work great for any aquatic nasties.

That makes a lot of sense, Tolak. But, since it does that job so well, couldn't it be a bit of overkill for our purposes?

Since the main ingredient we are talking about is chlorine, and that's used to kill bacteria in our water supply with a much weaker dilution, we know it is effective, at least for some things, at very low levels. It's also used to keep swimming pools safe, probably at a higher level of dilution than the water supply, but low enough for humans (and animals) to soak themselves in and even swallow, without harm.

Since we don't have to worry about AIDS, but we do have to worry about killing off our beneficial bacteria, is the risk of possible contamination of our tanks by chlorine residue worth using the extra heavy duty solution? I know that bleach is supposed to dissipate when items washed with it are air dried, but does it? I've had the smell linger on nets that I've washed and rinsed well.

I wonder what the optimum solution for aquarium use really is.

 

[wuvmybetta]

The absorbant plastic story still makes me wonder if I should rinse even more, before I add fish.

Since plastic expands with heat,I rinse them repeatedly in scorching hot water- then I rinse them in cold. I've never had any problems, I guess I worry more about diseases being trapped in the plastic

 

[Tolak]

Bacteria will be killed off by a weaker mix, viruses, which are nearly impossible to treat, will not be. Some bacteria are especially nasty, even bleaching equipment won't help; http/www.aquaria.info/modules.php?op=mod...=article&sid=34

I would rather be safe than sorry when it comes to multiple tanks. The mixture of chlorine to water is mild in tap water, stronger in swimming pools, and stronger still in a 1:20 mix used for cleaning. If you are worried about the tiny amount of residual bleach that may be left on equipment used in tanks where a good dechlorinator is used, your dechlorinator will take care of it just like it does the chlorine in tap water.

Municipal water supplies vary the amount of chemicals they put in the water, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. The tiny bit of additional chlorine that you may put in a tank is probably about the same as what they add late on a weekday night in preparation for the early morning surge when everyone is getting ready for work.

Some aquarists go light on dechlorinator, knowingly leaving a little in there. The thought is that while it may kill a little of the beneficial bacteria it also takes care of some of the unwanted bacteria. I don't do this, nor advocate it for healthy fish, as long term exposure to chlorine is not good at all for fish. I did try this Saturday morning on a tank with some black angels with a little fungal fin rot that didn't respond to a few doses of Maroxy. 75% wc, shut down the filtration, & fill with water with no dechlor. After an hour, added dechlor & started up the filters. All fish are healthy, and the finrot seems to be much better. I wouldn't advocate this for anyone else yet, as this was the first time, need repeat results to make a definite conclusion. Hopefully there won't be any repeat results, but if this works ok, I'll try it again. If the fish in this tank start doing poorly, I'll know it was a bad idea.

Tolak

 

[soritan]

I've actually heard of the 1/20 solution used on other sites, too. It's recommended as a brief soak to rid new, live plants of snail eggs and algae spores before introducing them to a tank.

 

[Dany]

ok. people who have replyed saying they use bleach? waht size tanks have you got? if you v got someting like a 50 gallon and using bleach its not a tank that you can go and pick up and empty compleatly. you cannot syphon all the water out. its impossible. try it. meaning theres always going to be bleach in the water that either kills the fish directly or kills the beneficial bacteria that thses fish rely on. these peolpe who hav replyed...have you got a bare botton tank, gravel, plants, driftwood? if youv got gravel your going to have to realy try hard to get off all the bleach. bog wood is an absorbant. plants will die and whatever...so if using bleach your going to have to empty all your tanks bare to be able to. even then will larger tanks especially you cannot get all the water & bleach out with a syphon and you cant exactly go and pick it up and empty it now can you....why would you want to use bleach when you can use proper medication for a certain disease and not have to use 90% of the effort to take strip your tank barewhen using bleach....this is why i have a problem with bleach.

 

[Tolak]

Bleach is chlorine, the same as in chlorinated tap water. Dechlorinator will deal with it. I've cleaned larger tanks, after siphoning, use a towel to get the rest of the water out. I have no problem lifting a 55, you can always tip it if you are not so strong.

After cleaning gravel, rinse with tap water, use a good dechlorinator when filling all is good, same with driftwood. Dechlorinator doesn't discriminate between the chlorine in tap water or the chlorine in bleach, it neuteralizes it all, just the same.

I've cleaned everything from 10 gallon to 55 gallon tanks with bleach/water solution, never lost a fish due to bleach. I clean siphoning equipment, nets, you name it. How many tanks have you cleaned with bleach Dany, and what problems have you had? I'm looking for specific instances & procedures used in real life, not just guesses as to what may work or not.

If you would care to follow my link, you will find that there are no medications for aquatic viruses. Bleach will kill viruses.

When you are absolutely sure of the pathogen that may be present in an aquarium, you will then be able to treat it with absolute certainty. A microscope, some experience in preparing slides, along with some education in microbiology is needed for this. You then will be able to pick the proper medication without a doubt. Most anti-bacterial medications are broad based, treating either gram positive or gram negative bacteria. Some work better on different bacteria then others.

Some fish do not tolerate bacteria that are tolerated by other fish. One example I deal with on a regular basis is angelfish fry compared to adult angels. Fry need immaculate conditions, not medication, as the medication will kill them outright. Tanks cleaned with bleach & properly rinsed work fine for sensitive fry, as do sponge filters that are cleaned & cycled in the parents tank for a few weeks.

 

[Dany]

ok tolkas...this topic was started when someone wanted to know if they should bleach the water or whatever. i didnt advise. apparently one of their fish had died and someone told him to use bleach to clean the tank. i told them not to as there is a risk of killing their fish, either directly or by killing then beneficial bacteria within the tank. Every time a fish dies in your tank from whitespot, do you empty it and bleach it? this was the same case but with a different disease. Why not just treat the water for that case?

 

[soritan]

ok tolkas...this topic was started when someone wanted to know if they should bleach the water or whatever. i didnt advise. apparently one of their fish had died and someone told him to use bleach to clean the tank. i told them not to as there is a risk of killing their fish, either directly or by killing then beneficial bacteria within the tank. Every time a fish dies in your tank from whitespot, do you empty it and bleach it? this was the same case but with a different disease. Why not just treat the water for that case?

What? I've gone back and read the first post a couple times, and perhaps my reading comprehension isn't so great pre-coffee, but I don't see their tank referenced. Was this topic split off a larger one, and I missed it?

Bleaching an empty tank is no harder than scouring it with salt, or whatever other method you use. There are also no obvious bad effects when properly employed. Anything that can kill, will, if proper method isn't used.

I have used a bleach solution on live plants, gallon bowls, 3.3gallon acrylic tanks, 2.5 gallon glass tanks, and 5.3 and 10 gallon glass tanks. It only takes a few hours, doesn't require much hovering on my part, and I know when I'm done that it's sterile and safe. If I still smell bleach, I rinse again. I also let the tanks air dry over a period of a few days, and then rinse one or two more times before filling. *shrug* It works for me.

 

[Tolak]

Dany; If you had read their origanal post http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=123957&hl= you would see that all their fish had died. Any bacteria concerning biological filtration are goners. It's a 10 gallon tank, sounds like all the fish died of hemmoragic septicemia. With fish suffering from this oxytetracycline hydrochloride is a good med, for the fish. With no fish remaining in the tank, bleach will work better. Hemmoragic septicemia can be a tough one to treat, at times it moves from fish to fish rapidly. I would bleach this tank before adding new fish. You can try meds & take your chances.

 

[Dany]

there are many alternatives to bleach which are just as effective.theres always a risk with bleach, and when your 14 and not earning any money, the concicenques of taking that risk is huge when your spending £25 per fish. id rather spend a small fee on either the septicemia medication or proper chemicals to clean the tank from my lfs than take these risks.why use bleach when there are just as effective aquarium cleaning materials on the market?

 

[Tolak]

Dany; Sure, there are products available specifically for disinfecting aquatics equipment. They cost more than bleach, and are also toxic if introduced into the aquarium. http/www.novalek.com/kpd31.htm

I know for a fact that sodium thiosulfate will neutralize chlorine bleach. What do you suggest to use for neutralizing didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride?

A spawn of angels brings in a minimum of $300 to fund my aquatics addiction. If something cost a few bucks more, was safer, & just as effective, don't you think I would use it? My oldest pair of angels has spawned countless times, I've pulled & raised at least 8 spawns from this pair, they're strong breeders. I use bleach to sanitize tank maintenance equipment used in their tank, as well as slate & pvc pipe they spawn on. For a few dollars more, don't you think I would get an aquarium specific product if I thought it was safer & just as effective?


I started this topic to find out members personal experiences, good or bad, with the use of bleach as it applies to sanitizing aquatics related equipment. You have no personal experience.

None the less there is something I have been interested in trying. I would like to get a chlorine test kit, one for swimming pools would probably work well for testing the concentration of my tap water, as well as for a 20:1 mixture of bleach & water. It would be interesting to see how much dechlorinator is needed to neutralize a given volume of this mixture.

 

[crazie.eddie]

The nice thing about bleach is you can use an off the shelf dechlorinator to nuetralize it. I usually use bleach and/or PP solution to sterilize my tanks and I always use dechlorinator after to nuetralize the bleach/PP solution.

 

[The-Lion]

I soak all my equipment, nets & so on in baby sterilizing fluid with no ill effects.