How long can I leave a piece of Cucumber in my tank??

[Joele]

That will kill bacteria but how do you know blanching will remove pesticides? A nice rinse under tap water will do just fine. Besides you're talking about one or two thin slices of vegitable to many many gallons of water. We generally measure in parts per million. Unless the cucumber are absolutely dripping with pesticide (which I hope would not be the case) then we'd be talking parts per billion or trillion. There's probably a higher concentration of pesticide already in the water straight from the tap.

Fair enough thanks, I may be a little too cautious when it comes to fresh, fruit and veges as I am allergic to a common preservative sprayed on and infussed into many fresh fruit..

 

[Aqualung]

I try not to leave cucumber in for more than 24 hours. If it is blanched first it starts becoming mush after roughly 24 hours, and will make a mess and add to nitrate levels if left in for another day. If rinsed but not blanched it will take 12-18 hours longer for it to break down. Not too big of an issue if it's just one small slice now and then, but I have lots of otos to feed and use multiple large chunks of it at a time. When I come home after being away and the otos haven't had their veggies in a while, I often don't have to remove anything.