View Full Version : Do you think greenworks is safe for aquariums? OR could be one day?
myswtsins
10-04-2008, 4:07 PM
The new line of Green works from Clorox is made from natural ingredients so do you think it would be safe to use in an aquarium? I doubt it but figured I would look into it some. I was thinking maybe someone with a little more scientific knowledge could shed some light on what ingredients might be harmful.
Green works All-purpose cleaner contains...
Filtered water
Coconut-based cleaning agents (nonionin surfactant;alkyl polyglucoside)
Corn based ethanol
Glycerine
Essential lemon oil
Biodegradable preserative
Blue & yellow colorant
Contains no phosphorus or bleach.
99.93% all natural
Just cause it is natural does not mean it is not dangerous of course....:frog:.... Plenty of natural plants will kill us if ingested.
I ask for a couple reasons. 1.) I have colorquartz that I can not get the oil off of. 2.) Maybe a future aquarium safe cleaner could stem from this.
I could find nothing about anyone else asking about this so I figure it is for obvious reasons (dumb question!) but I gotta ask anyways! :)
1oooop
10-04-2008, 5:00 PM
no, definitely nono... it contains ethanol... don't use unless you want drunk fish... besides, corn based ethanol is WORSE than gas for the environment... what happened to sugar cane :(
LesbianChap
10-04-2008, 7:30 PM
no, definitely nono... it contains ethanol... don't use unless you want drunk fish... besides, corn based ethanol is WORSE than gas for the environment... what happened to sugar cane :(
I drank all the rum. Sorry.
1oooop
10-04-2008, 11:57 PM
o, good point... it should be okay to drink but it will taste horrible(I mean the greenworks thing)...
jmhart
10-05-2008, 1:06 AM
Not ok to drink, not ok for your tank....no no no....."natural" doesn't mean ANYTHING. "Natural" and "Organic" do not mean harmless and do not mean "Good for the environment". All "natural" means as it applies to Greenworks is that they do not use oils to produce it and that it has a higher markup in order to profit on the fad. "Natural" isn't a defined term as it applies to non-food items. A few companies have tried to form an industry wide definition of "natural" but couldn't get other people on board.
myswtsins
10-05-2008, 1:51 AM
Ok, Ethanol was the one I was concerned with as well. Clears that right up! :) Thank you for confirming everyone.
no, definitely nono... it contains ethanol... don't use unless you want drunk fish... besides, corn based ethanol is WORSE than gas for the environment... what happened to sugar cane :(
What do you mean?
jmhart
10-05-2008, 2:05 AM
I reacted pretty strongly to the drinking comment. Basically, never drink anything unless it's a food item. EVER. Depending on how much you ingested of Greenworks, you might only have a horrible stomach ache, or you would be bleeding internally...Don't drink household cleaning agents and don't suggest to other people that it might be ok to drink it. (on a side note, when Clorox was developing "Clorox Anywhere", there was a video of one of the product developers drinking it, showing how safe it is.....on the other side of that, there was a guy who was a leaded gasoline product developer who used to bath his hands in it to show how safe it was, then he died of lead poisoning.....but that's neither here nor there).
So, the two things in there to watch out for are ethanol and the surfactant alkyl polyglycoside. Both of those would be very bad for your fish. They are both pretty easily rinsed out. Ethanol dilutes easily, and the surfactant readily biodegrades in water. However, you don't want to leave any residual in your tank. Interesting enough, alkyl polyglycoside is a pretty good surfactant, and they have a decent amount of it in Greenworks, so for areas outside the aquarium, it's great for cleaning up oily messes.
myswtsins
10-05-2008, 7:15 PM
All very good to know. I am glad you mentioned something about NOT drinking things like this as well, for the safety of the members.
LesbianChap
10-07-2008, 4:02 AM
The rum comment was to what 1oooop asked as to what happened to the sugarcane...rum is from molasses (a sugarcane bi-product), I drank all the rum so we're stuck using grain-based ethanol...
Guess no one got the joke.
I don't suggest drinking anything that's not marketed for consumption.
1oooop
10-07-2008, 7:46 AM
never mind... alkyl polyglucoside is used to brighten aluminum and as a paint stripper... glycerol is actually a sweetener that does not have any adverse effects but it's high calorie content it is also used as a soap :)... I'm not too sure about the biodegradable preservative but I think it is glycerin as it has preservative properties
I ask for a couple reasons. 1.) I have colorquartz that I can not get the oil off of. 2.) Maybe a future aquarium safe cleaner could stem from this.
Safest(read: easiest, but wear gloves for possible prolonged exposure) way to clean oil is with ethanol. Make sure it's well rinsed before putting it in an aquarium. I recommend staying away from methanol.
Only thing that's really safe to put in your aquarium is water. Anything else could cause problems :P
dudley
10-07-2008, 11:37 AM
Just a thought - Maybe try Dawn dishwashing liquid on a pail full of oily CQ. I have heard that environmentalists use it when cleaning wildlife off when there is an oil spill. Just make sure you do a lot of fresh water rinsing after & a dechlor dip for good measure.
I have never tried this but you might want to do an INTERNET search for a legitimate verification of the safety of this product with an environmental group that has used it in the past.
blissskr
10-07-2008, 11:43 AM
Ive succesfully used dawn to clean off some gravel that was oily. You could also try adding it to a big pot and boiling it to see if you can get the oil of that way.
J double R
10-07-2008, 1:10 PM
never never never NEVER use ANY kind of SOAP in your tank.
if you do, you're asking for it.
dont say we didn't warn you.
jmhart
10-07-2008, 1:12 PM
Boiling water, bleach, peroxide, and vinegar are all safe cleaners to use on aquarium products....they all readily degrade in water.
Why do you think it's oily? Where'd the oil come from?
myswtsins
10-07-2008, 3:35 PM
I do not like the idea of using soap either, it leaves too much of a residue.
I think the CQ is oily because when I try to rinse it I get an oil slick on the surface of the water and when I run my fingers through it it leaves black residue. CQ is known to be oily at times. (I have rinsed this stuff for over 20 hours in every way possible but only with water and vinegar)
I tested a drop of green works on a small pail and it cleaned up quick! It also appeared to rinse out with the first rinse but I rinsed it many more times. I MAY try adding a small fish to an aquarium with this now clean CQ and see if it has any adverse effects.
I have not tried bleach yet so I will probably try that first and hope for the best. I don't wanna hurt my fish friends!! Thanks!
dudley
10-07-2008, 8:17 PM
I never suggested using soap in his tank. Dawn has been used to clean oily residue off waterfowl, wildlife & structure with great success. It has been proven safe for these purposes. I suggested trying this as a last resort because he seems to have tried everything else. If it was me, I would try the Dawn to clean the CQ in a 5G pail then rinse well with fresh water, bleach it then rinse, boil it and then see what the results are.
The only concern that I really have with the oily residue issue is, what is the oily residue exactly? Is this a byproduct of the manufacturing process or was this product somehow contaminated by something else? I have purchased 5 50# bags of CQ S-grade and have never seen this issue. Only 2 of those bags were black. They were dusty and left a residue on my hands & pail while rinsing but were never oily.
I hope this clarifies what my intent was in suggesting Dawn as a cleaning agent.
J double R
10-07-2008, 8:52 PM
I never suggested using soap in his tank. Dawn has been used to clean oily residue off waterfowl, wildlife & structure with great success. It has been proven safe for these purposes. I suggested trying this as a last resort because he seems to have tried everything else. If it was me, I would try the Dawn to clean the CQ in a 5G pail then rinse well with fresh water, bleach it then rinse, boil it and then see what the results are.
The only concern that I really have with the oily residue issue is, what is the oily residue exactly? Is this a byproduct of the manufacturing process or was this product somehow contaminated by something else? I have purchased 5 50# bags of CQ S-grade and have never seen this issue. Only 2 of those bags were black. They were dusty and left a residue on my hands & pail while rinsing but were never oily.
I hope this clarifies what my intent was in suggesting Dawn as a cleaning agent.
the problem in using any soap (especially one as concentrated as dish soap) is that it has no comparison to use on wild animals.. if any of that was to get into a local waterway, the sheer volume of water would dilute it indefinitely.
in a tank, however, any residue is going to contaminate that very small (in comparison) amount of water, and any effects it would have on fish are going to be exponentially compounded on the residents of that tank.