Post by Suzanah on Apr 22, 2015 20:10:49 GMT -5
Pretty much everyone will have an illness outbreak, need to tear down an aquarium, buy something second hand or get something like live plants their not sure about. That's when sanitizing it may be necessary. Here's several ways you can do this safely and have a illness free home for your fish.
SALT:
The first method is salt. Salt can help and since it's not going in with fish it doesn't much matter if it aquarium, rock, kosher or table salt. Mix a bunch of it in with water – and I mean a bunch. If what you're sanitizing is fine with heat then you can use super hot water as well. Dissolve the salt and mix up. Then set the equipment or fill up the fish tank with the salty water. Let it sit for a day or two and then rinse out really well. Presto. It should be clean.
Salt also makes a great scrub for gl tanks or other stuff that has some gunk on it. I would not recommend using this on an acrylic tank and going to town as you could scratch the material.
THE SUN:
The sun is another cleaning tool you can use (and it's free) Just set your tank/equipment/whatever out in the sun for a couple days and let the UV rays do their thing. This is a great method to combine with other ways of cleaning as well. It's probably best to not do this in the middle of winter when it gets really cold outside though.
PEROXIDE:
Peroxide is a great way to sanitize your equipment. To mix it up just take 10 parts water to 1 part peroxide and let whatever you want sit in it over night. This should kill off any germs or parasites you have. Then just rinse well and you're ready to go. An added benefit is peroxide breaks down into water after 24 hours of light exposure (that's why it's sold in those opaque bottles).
Any peroxide residue won't hurt the fish either because many aquarists use strait peroxide in a syringe to deal with algae issues while fish are in the tank.
VINEGAR:
Vinegar is another good way to clean any germs or parasites. It's a 10 parts water to 1 part vinegar as well. Let the stuff sit for several hours to over night and you it should be all done. Rinse until the vinegar smell is gone. I've heard that a touch of residue shouldn't hurt the fish either but I still like to rinse it really well.
An added benefit of vinegar is that it'll take off hard water stains because of it's slightly acidic nature. Just spray down the area with a spray bottle. You can make the solution 50/50 with water if you wish. Soak a paper towel in vinegar as well. Set the paper towel over the area and let it sit for several hours. Repeat if necessary. If the piece of equipment is small enough you can leave it sitting in the water and vinegar for a while as well.
BLEACH:
Bleach should kill any hitch hikers and germs in your tank or on your equipment. Again it's 10 parts water to 1 part bleach. Let sit for several hours and rinse really really well. You do not want any residue. Fish do not like bleach residue. However once that's off then there will be no issue using the tank or equipment again. I do not recommend using bleach on things like sand, gravel, porous décor or the like because you may not be able to get it out.
The best way to get it out after you finish is to use some heavily dechlorinated water since bleach is essentially ammonia (with your tank stuff) and let it sit for a while (I usually do a couple of hours). Repeat this a couple of time until the smell is gone. I like to rinse again after the smell is gone just to be sure.
LEMON AND SALT:
Mix up a fairly heavy lemon juice and lots of salt in water. Let the salt dissolve. This is best done with a spray bottle. Since both these things have germ killing properties and lemon is slightly acidic it can help clean, loosen hard water staining and sanitize your tank. Spray and soak whatever you want to clean. Let it sit for a while and then rinse really well. This also works really well combined with letting your tank/equipment sit in the sun.
BOILING:
This works really well if you have gravel, sand, driftwood, coconut houses or something that can stand up to the heat really well. Boil the item for anywhere between a half hour and an hour and everything should be dead on it (preparing new driftwood or a coconut house is covered in a different document). It is worth mentioning that plastic plants do not like boiling and will curl up on you in unattractive ways or melt. This is probably not the best method for silk plants either as many of them have plastic that will do the same thing as plastic plants.
Oh you can also bake items such as gravel or sand in the oven on 250F spread out on a cookie sheet. I would strongly advise against doing this with wood or coconut shells as you could set the stove on fire.
***Note!!! DO NOT BOIL LARGE ROCKS OR BAKE THEM IN THE OVEN AS THEY COULD EXPLODE FROM THE HEAT!!!***
UV LIGHT:
There are speciality UV lights you can get. Since ultra violet light is known to kill germs this can really help in your tank.
LETTING EQUIPMENT DRY OUT:
This is a great way of killing parasites. Since water parasites like ich and velvet etc. need to be well wet, then letting your equipment dry out for around a week or so is a great way of killing the little pests off. Easy.
SANITIZING LIVE WATER PLANTS:
Many of us keep live water plants but how do you make sure they're clean, germ and parasite free? Well you can use bleach, vinegar or peroxide (definitely only pick one though!) in the 10 parts water to 1 part - insert chosen cleaning stuff here -. Let the plant sit for 2 to 3 minutes and then rinse and use heavily dechlorinated water until any smell is absolutely gone. For more delicate plants only leave them in it for 2 minutes but more sensitive plants you can go up to 3 minutes.
I have used bleach on plants before and had no issues with most of them. Some like vallis do not like this method though and would be better in a quarantine situation. However if you do this without gloves on then definitely smell the plant when you are not holding it because bleach takes soooo much longer to come off of skin. Seriously I must have rinsed that plant waaay longer then it needed it.
***Note: These cleaning methods are meant to be used on tanks that do not have fish in them and whatever you do, DO NOT use soap, dish soap, strong cleaners like mister clean, pinesol, lysol, scrubbing bubbles, or fantastic (etc.) on your tanks. Fish tend to object by getting sick and/or dying on you.***
SALT:
The first method is salt. Salt can help and since it's not going in with fish it doesn't much matter if it aquarium, rock, kosher or table salt. Mix a bunch of it in with water – and I mean a bunch. If what you're sanitizing is fine with heat then you can use super hot water as well. Dissolve the salt and mix up. Then set the equipment or fill up the fish tank with the salty water. Let it sit for a day or two and then rinse out really well. Presto. It should be clean.
Salt also makes a great scrub for gl tanks or other stuff that has some gunk on it. I would not recommend using this on an acrylic tank and going to town as you could scratch the material.
THE SUN:
The sun is another cleaning tool you can use (and it's free) Just set your tank/equipment/whatever out in the sun for a couple days and let the UV rays do their thing. This is a great method to combine with other ways of cleaning as well. It's probably best to not do this in the middle of winter when it gets really cold outside though.
PEROXIDE:
Peroxide is a great way to sanitize your equipment. To mix it up just take 10 parts water to 1 part peroxide and let whatever you want sit in it over night. This should kill off any germs or parasites you have. Then just rinse well and you're ready to go. An added benefit is peroxide breaks down into water after 24 hours of light exposure (that's why it's sold in those opaque bottles).
Any peroxide residue won't hurt the fish either because many aquarists use strait peroxide in a syringe to deal with algae issues while fish are in the tank.
VINEGAR:
Vinegar is another good way to clean any germs or parasites. It's a 10 parts water to 1 part vinegar as well. Let the stuff sit for several hours to over night and you it should be all done. Rinse until the vinegar smell is gone. I've heard that a touch of residue shouldn't hurt the fish either but I still like to rinse it really well.
An added benefit of vinegar is that it'll take off hard water stains because of it's slightly acidic nature. Just spray down the area with a spray bottle. You can make the solution 50/50 with water if you wish. Soak a paper towel in vinegar as well. Set the paper towel over the area and let it sit for several hours. Repeat if necessary. If the piece of equipment is small enough you can leave it sitting in the water and vinegar for a while as well.
BLEACH:
Bleach should kill any hitch hikers and germs in your tank or on your equipment. Again it's 10 parts water to 1 part bleach. Let sit for several hours and rinse really really well. You do not want any residue. Fish do not like bleach residue. However once that's off then there will be no issue using the tank or equipment again. I do not recommend using bleach on things like sand, gravel, porous décor or the like because you may not be able to get it out.
The best way to get it out after you finish is to use some heavily dechlorinated water since bleach is essentially ammonia (with your tank stuff) and let it sit for a while (I usually do a couple of hours). Repeat this a couple of time until the smell is gone. I like to rinse again after the smell is gone just to be sure.
LEMON AND SALT:
Mix up a fairly heavy lemon juice and lots of salt in water. Let the salt dissolve. This is best done with a spray bottle. Since both these things have germ killing properties and lemon is slightly acidic it can help clean, loosen hard water staining and sanitize your tank. Spray and soak whatever you want to clean. Let it sit for a while and then rinse really well. This also works really well combined with letting your tank/equipment sit in the sun.
BOILING:
This works really well if you have gravel, sand, driftwood, coconut houses or something that can stand up to the heat really well. Boil the item for anywhere between a half hour and an hour and everything should be dead on it (preparing new driftwood or a coconut house is covered in a different document). It is worth mentioning that plastic plants do not like boiling and will curl up on you in unattractive ways or melt. This is probably not the best method for silk plants either as many of them have plastic that will do the same thing as plastic plants.
Oh you can also bake items such as gravel or sand in the oven on 250F spread out on a cookie sheet. I would strongly advise against doing this with wood or coconut shells as you could set the stove on fire.
***Note!!! DO NOT BOIL LARGE ROCKS OR BAKE THEM IN THE OVEN AS THEY COULD EXPLODE FROM THE HEAT!!!***
UV LIGHT:
There are speciality UV lights you can get. Since ultra violet light is known to kill germs this can really help in your tank.
LETTING EQUIPMENT DRY OUT:
This is a great way of killing parasites. Since water parasites like ich and velvet etc. need to be well wet, then letting your equipment dry out for around a week or so is a great way of killing the little pests off. Easy.
SANITIZING LIVE WATER PLANTS:
Many of us keep live water plants but how do you make sure they're clean, germ and parasite free? Well you can use bleach, vinegar or peroxide (definitely only pick one though!) in the 10 parts water to 1 part - insert chosen cleaning stuff here -. Let the plant sit for 2 to 3 minutes and then rinse and use heavily dechlorinated water until any smell is absolutely gone. For more delicate plants only leave them in it for 2 minutes but more sensitive plants you can go up to 3 minutes.
I have used bleach on plants before and had no issues with most of them. Some like vallis do not like this method though and would be better in a quarantine situation. However if you do this without gloves on then definitely smell the plant when you are not holding it because bleach takes soooo much longer to come off of skin. Seriously I must have rinsed that plant waaay longer then it needed it.
***Note: These cleaning methods are meant to be used on tanks that do not have fish in them and whatever you do, DO NOT use soap, dish soap, strong cleaners like mister clean, pinesol, lysol, scrubbing bubbles, or fantastic (etc.) on your tanks. Fish tend to object by getting sick and/or dying on you.***
