Safe Aquarium Cleaning

[DiscusKeeper403]

I am transferring items into my new tank, and I thought I would start everything off fresh, so I wanted to bleach all the equipment I am switching into the new tank. Unfortunately I have ran out of it. I heard once that Vinegar can be used also. Do you guys think this is true? If anyone knows I would love a quick answer.


Thanks.

DL

 

[lyotim88]

i've used white vinegar and seems to work well

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Cool thanks for the reply. I am pretty sure if it a good alternative to bleach, so I am going to go ahead and clean the heaters with it. I will wait a little before I put them into the new tank, just in case someone says they have had a bad experience doing it this way.

 

[minxfishy]

I dont know how true this is, but apparently vinegar can effect the silicone in the tank, making it weaker, not sure on the details though, so be careful if you do use it.

 

[saz326]

as minxfishy says, silicone may be affected by vinegar.

I know that they use acetic acid as the "cure"-ing agent in many silicone sealents. Acetic acid is the stuff in vinegar that gives it its smell.

..so if you use vinegar on the seals, it may weaken them.

Go for it on glass items such as heaters. But personally i wouldnt use it on anything plastic, unless you dilute it well.

If you want to use it on the tank, then simply put vinegar on a cloth, and wipe the glass surfaces with the cloth. DONT put a pool of vinegar in the tank bottom. -its a waste anyway.

 

[Honeythorn]

I've always used the same method as my Grandfather. A small tot of Milton ( or similar fluid for sterilising babies bottles ) in the water used to clean the tank when you get a used one or need to clean the whole thing, or any ornaments. Rinse thoroughly several times with clean plain hot water afterwards.

 

[greenbottle]

i have worked with 100% conc. acetic acid and the smell is VERY similar to that of the aquarium sealant i was using the other day.

If you add vinegar it may act to soften the sealant as it will be the solvent for it. However as vinegar is very weak acetic it should be ok as long as ou dont soak it for weeks.

hope that makes sense

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Thanks for the information. The Vinegar was only used to clean the glass heaters and a little bit of plastic (the mounting part for the heaters.) I doubt it will do much, as I rinsed the plastic really thoroughly and they aren't very big. I have heard the same thing with bleach too. A local LFS has an incident where someone came in and secretly dumped bleach into a bunch of tanks. The owner said that he was able to save all the fish with large water changes, but there was some damage to the silicone in the tanks.