Ornament cleaning question

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trancecommander

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Feb 28, 2004
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Hey everyone,

I have a question on how to clean the ornaments in my tank. From what I've read, I should use a bleach solution to clean them right?

The ornaments right now have some brownish/rust colored stuff on them which I'm guessing in some sort of algae.

What kind of a bleach solution should I use? Would any store brand NON-CLORINE bleach work? What proportions of bleach to water should I use?

Any tips of the cleaning process would be of a great help!

I would appreciate your responses very much!
 
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saltydog

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Mar 16, 2004
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I would say stay away from the bleach if you can.....even though it can be used.....you should be able to clean the plants with warm water and finger/brush. I have the same thing...and it comes right off.

It is a type of algae / Brown Algae.....Just an idea, since algaie thrives in light......lessen the amount of time the light is on. Only have the light on when you are home. No need having the tank lit when you are at work/school.
 

trancecommander

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Feb 28, 2004
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Thanks for your response. Yeah, I turn the light on only in the evenings ... which is for about 5 hours or so ... and for longer on the weekends. The tank is fairly protected from direct sunlight so thats a good thing.

I don't have a whole lot of algae ... just a few patches here and there. The one big problem is an atrificial coral that I have. I tried cleaning it with hot water and a toothbrush ... but it was next to impossible to get it clean again (its an off-white color so it looks pretty bad with all the brown stuff on it).
 

bharada

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Apr 13, 2004
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For hard to clean items I typically dump them into a bucket with a 10% chlorine bleach (Clorox or the like) solution and let it soak overnight. The next day I rinse the pieces off thoroughly and scrub any scummy residue off with a brush. I usually keep rinsing with fresh water until the smell of bleach is gone, then soak it in a bucket of water with a generaous amount of de-chlor solution (for an hour or so) just to be safe.
 

daveedka

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Jan 30, 2004
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What kind of a bleach solution should I use? Would any store brand NON-CLORINE bleach work? What proportions of bleach to water should I use?
You will want chlorine bleach, no the soap stuff, and 1-19 mix is usually reccomended, although stronger would be OK for ornaments and the like, The 1-19 will kill the algea off of live plants without killing them. The length of time is not an issue with non-living items, but usually in 10 minutes the algea will be completely gone. If bleach scares you remember this. Chlorine is in our water, it gases off given time, sunlight makes it gas off very rapidly, and dechlorinator will neutralise it as well. to me it is one of the preferred cleaners for all of these reasons. For plants, I dip them in bleach for 10 minutes, then dip them in clean water with a double dose of dechlorinator and swish them around. If that doesn't satisfy, rinse them again in a bucket of tank water. For ornaments, I usually just rinse them off with tap water and set them in the sun for an hour or two. but the dechlorinator will work for them as well. I use good old fashioned clorox liquid bleach.
 
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