Using Bleach

[guykazuma]

I have a friend who wants to clean his tank and equipment with bleach, because he's had some trubblesome infestations with the tank. He thinks that it will get rid of everything, and be able to restart the whole process again with the same tank and equipment. I am trying to advise him not to. He told me that it was ok. I am I wrong?

 

[chipmaker]

Why, whats wrong with usuing bleach to sterilize or clean up any potential nasties and start from scratch again. Chlorox is commonly used to clean such things as filter boxs, nets, tanks, decorations, plumbing, filter media etc etc. Its fine. Rinse well after using a 10% bleach solution, and allow to air dry. If in a hurry simply add water dechlorinator, and bump on. Chlorine bleach loses its punch pretty fast when exposed to air and sun, so a 24 hour dry out is more than adequate.

 

[trainfever]

Bleach wont hurt it. Most people dont know this but bleach starts out as salt water and reverts back to salt water when it is broken down.

 

[beth]

Its not a bad idea if he's starting over, however, fish diseases need to be addressed by preventing them from being introduced into the aquaria to begin with. This is accomplished through a QT.

 

[reefkprz]

bleach is fine to use if properly rinsed and declorinated. I use it on freshwater stuff all the time and occasionaly on marine stuff. but I usually use it for eliminating algae off fake plants and decorative rocks in my freswater tanks.