NO! that's WRONG!

[happychem]

And a healthy dose of bleach or lysol to kill all the bacteria!

Actually, to look at it rationally, while it's really not a good idea, as long as the tank was rinsed REALLY thoroughly right after cleaning, it should be okay. But how thoroughly will most people rinse their tanks.

The one that gets me is the lysol commertial talking about the evils of bacteria and shows the mother spraying everything to "protect" her kids. She even sprays their ball!!

 

[ChicoRaton]

while it's really not a good idea, as long as the tank was rinsed REALLY thoroughly right after cleaning, it should be okay.

Read the "Cycle" sticky at the top of the freshwater newbie forum :laugh:

 

[happychem]

I did a while back, what'd I miss?

 

[125gJoe]

what? no steel wool?

A good coarse grit sandpaper should do the job on even the toughest of algae problems on the glass! Bunched up steel wool sure would reach those hard to get at corners!

 

[Tyler718]

A good coarse grit sandpaper should do the job on even the toughest of algae problems on the glass! Bunched up steel wool sure would reach those hard to get at corners!

I just prefer to drain the tank and use either my Dremil tool or power :laugh: sander.

 

[125gJoe]

The propane torch method is shown in this pic. The picture is outside the aquarium to give you a better look at how effective it can be on hard to treat algae problems. As you can see, regular yard grass is no match for it!

This pic shows the demise of the dreaded 'black algae' that had a strangle-hold on the intake of the filter! Just look at the progress the torch makes!

And yet another use of the propane torch...
Here, in this pic, the torch is used to help with 'water garden' maintenance...

 

[PumaWard]

Hmmm... why not just replace the tank every few weeks?

 

[125gJoe]

Hmmm... why not just replace the tank every few weeks?

Why replace, when a little cleaning could work?

 

[PumaWard]

But you can never be sure all the "nasties" in the tank are out.........you know how tricky bacteria is .

 

[dwayne]

The one that gets me is the lysol commertial talking about the evils of bacteria and shows the mother spraying everything to "protect" her kids. She even sprays their ball!!

Happy -- as the mother of a 2-year old, let me say this: Lysol is my friend! I spray Lysol on every gross surface in my bathroom -- after a thorough cleaning with Cinch spray, Lysol gets sprayed on the entire toilet surface, and surrounding floor area, and especially all over the nasty-but-necessary plunger that has nowhere to live other than behind the toilet. Every garbage bucket gets sprayed w/ lysol before a new bag is put in. The Diaper Genie gets throughly sprayed w/ lysol after being emptied, and the high chair gets a thorough spray down once a week, and is left out on the back porch over night to dry/air out. I know how bad the actual aerosol is for everyone, younger ones more so, but I don't spray the lysol when my son is in the room, and 99.9% of the time the cleaning is done after he's in bed for the night. However nothing cleans/disinfects/de-grosses like Lysol... and when your 2 year old doesn't understand that it's not hygenic to touch the ceramic part of the toilet bowl where the seat rests on... well you get the picture!

As far as cleaning his toys w/ lysol - no. For that I use 1/3 bleach 2/3 water mix. As recommended by his pediatrician, and mandated by the state for all daycare facilities to clean everything with!

OK, kind of :OT: !!!

As far as cleaning tanks goes, well just this past weekend my tank was thoroughly cleaned with 100% bleach, rinsed with Mr. Clean and hot water, and both filters were sprayed with Lysol to get rid of the germs!