What To Wash Plants And Gravel In

Hello,
I’m takin out all my gravel and fake plants and washing them today. They have a lot of algae on them so what’s the best way to get the algae off? Warm water? Bleach? Soap?

Thank you!

 

A cup of bleach per 5 gallons of water. Soak for around 24 hours.

This next part is very important. After 24 hours or whenever the algae is gone, rinse extremely well in warm tap water. Then soak in a 5 gallon bucket with 1 cup of conditioner per 5 gallons of water. Wait 8 hours. Take out, rinse thoroughly once again, and then do another 8 hour soak in conditioner water. Lastly, rinse one more time. Let air dry.

 

Hello,
I’m takin out all my gravel and fake plants and washing them today. They have a lot of algae on them so what’s the best way to get the algae off? Warm water? Bleach? Soap?

Thank you!

SOAP!??!!? NEVER!!!! lol, bleach dips are something I would only ever use if the fish had a bad disease that spreads. I take a little scrub brush and my fingers with some warm water and scrub forever. ( Dont use boiling water on plants... oops... They went floppy) Takes some scrubbing on the algae but comes off.

 

A cup of bleach per 5 gallons of water. Soak for around 24 hours.

This next part is very important. After 24 hours or whenever the algae is gone, rinse extremely well in warm tap water. Then soak in a 5 gallon bucket with 1 cup of conditioner per 5 gallons of water. Wait 8 hours. Take out, rinse thoroughly once again, and then do another 8 hour soak in conditioner water. Lastly, rinse one more time. Let air dry.

Will the fish be okay with no gravel and plants for that long?

SOAP!??!!? NEVER!!!! lol, bleach dips are something I would only ever use if the fish had a bad disease that spreads. I take a little scrub brush and my fingers with some warm water and scrub forever. ( Dont use boiling water on plants... oops... They went floppy) Takes some scrubbing on the algae but comes off.

Okay thanks will probably do that then

 

Your fish will be fine without it. Bleach is completely safe and effective so long as you use it properly.

 

Oh yes fish will care less about that aslong as they aren't aggressive kind like a female betta sorority.

 

I clean the silk plants and other deco in my tank a couple of times a year. I use the Bleach method. I mix up about 1 cup of pure bleach (you don't want to use one that has any kind of fragrance in it or anything that keeps it from smelling like bleach) in my 2 gallon bucket. Put those items that needs a bleach soak in there for a few minutes. Rub off any tough algae but the bleach really should remove most of it fairly quick. I don't soak any longer than it takes for the items to look clean. That is usually no more than 15 or 20 minutes. It is a good idea to wear gloves during this part because the bleach is going to make your hands feel slimy and it will make you think the bleach is still there even though it isn't once rinsed.

The most important part of using bleach is rinsing well once they are clean. Rinse the items under running water. Then mix up a bucket of water with your water conditioner of choice. I use Prime but others will work too. I add at least 1/2 cup of prime to 2 gallons of water. Let the cleaned and well rinsed items sit in the dechlorinated water for 5 or 10 minutes. Swish the item around in the water to make sure the water gets in all the cracks and crevices. Your items are now ready to go back in the tank.

If I were doing a bleach wash on gravel after the bleach soak I would use a colander to rinse it. Depending on how much you have you may have to do it a little at a time. Once rinsed really really well pour it in a bucket of dechlorinated water. With gravel I would do a second rinse in fresh dechlorinated water.

I have personally done it this way for many many years and have never had a problem. As long as one has a water conditioner designed to remove chlorine the bleach wash will not be a problem for fish or tank.

 

What I do with my gravel is I boil them to get anything on them off and then drain the water out and put them back into the tank.

 

Okay so I took just about all gravel out put it in a strainer and rinsed it with hot water, for the plants I diped them in a half bleach half hot water, risned them, scrubbed them with a bristle brush, put them in condtion water for 10 minutes, rinsed them and then put them in the tank. I also scrubbed the walls with a sponge. I also did a %25 water change when doing this. The tank looks good so far! I started a blackout yesterday and it will be over on Tuesday so heopefully by then algae will be gone

 

A cup of bleach per 5 gallons of water. Soak for around 24 hours.

This next part is very important. After 24 hours or whenever the algae is gone, rinse extremely well in warm tap water. Then soak in a 5 gallon bucket with 1 cup of conditioner per 5 gallons of water. Wait 8 hours. Take out, rinse thoroughly once again, and then do another 8 hour soak in conditioner water. Lastly, rinse one more time. Let air dry.

Can I ask why you let them soak in bleach for so long? I can't imagine it would take 24 hours for bleach to kill algae.

 

Can I ask why you let them soak in bleach for so long? I can't imagine it would take 24 hours for bleach to kill algae.

That’s why I included “or whenever the algae is gone”, because even though you may kill it, you want it to fall off completely or you might as well just scrub it all off.