Artificial Plants

[TMony]

Anybody got any great tips or tricks for cleaning artificial plants?
To prevent shredding the silk plants or tearing apart the plastic ones while scrubbing them off.*DRUMMER*

 

[Kalavek]

I let my pleco take care of them. Its amazing how he can keep them spotless.

Otherwise, no - cleaning plants is a pain.

 

[bunker_1]

Go real??? My fake plants always broke apart. I hated it

 

[Mturner615]

you can blanch them in boiling water and then let them cool and rub off the algae a lot easier.

you just have to make sure that the water isnt so hot that it causes the plants to warp or get all misshaped due to the temperature of the water.

 

[mistercoffee]

Go real???

Agreed. Real plants are so much better.

Maybe you could scrub the fake ones with a toothbrush or something. (not the one you use of course lol). That would probably work. Or like someone else said, just let a pleco or oto take care of it.

 

[Chris_A]

I bleach them. If you use a strong enough solution (~25%) it oxidizes almost anything organic. Don't know what it would do to silk ones but you only get 5 or 6 years doing that with plastic before it gets REALLY brittle.

Chris

 

[bunker_1]

I have read of people using bleach on tank items. They never have a problem. But I would never do it. I know with my luck I would kill everything in the tank.

 

[Chris_A]

LOL, I thought the same when I first started doing it. It's pretty easy actually, just make sure you rinse very well with *hot* water until there's no chlorine smell and then soak in room temp water with a big dose of Prime. I'd like to give you an ammount... but I just "glug" it in . I know Seachem says to use 2 Tbsp Prime/ cup of water when regenerating Purigen but that seems like a lot for plastic plants. They arn't porus like the Purigen.

Chris

 

[Kalavek]

Agreed. Real plants are so much better.

Maybe you could scrub the fake ones with a toothbrush or something. (not the one you use of course lol). That would probably work. Or like someone else said, just let a pleco or oto take care of it.

Ahem, that's mister someone else!

But yes, a toothbrush does work. That's how I used to do it, but it was so tedious I ended up removed a pile of them from my tank because it was taking way too long.

 

[Mturner615]

Wow I never realized how many people are pushing real plants. I've had multiple tanks and all of them have been fake with the exception of some java moss to add a little bit of life to the plant section (plus most of my fish like it as a snack too).

 

[Kissyboots]

REAL PLANTS ROCK! If you have the um correct lighting of course or else they die......

I cleaned the fake plants that I used with a toothbrush. But some had so many tiny separate leaves that I ended up just rubbing them between my (gloved) hands. Eww, algae.

I got most of it off, but left the rest to dry out. I couldn't imagine boiling the though, or at least in hot water...aglae smells like kdjglkjavnlkdf.

 

[noob23]

They have this stuff called Plastic Plant Cleaner on drs foster and smith, ive never used it, but apperently its pretty good.

Check it out!
Plastic Aquarium Plant Cleaner

 

[cm11599ps]

I have read of people using bleach on tank items. They never have a problem. But I would never do it. I know with my luck I would kill everything in the tank.

I have always used bleach for my white items. I had a few white plastic plants as well as 3 pieces of fake coral.

I simply place a glass juice glass upside down in my sink over the drain and then place my dirty items in the sink. I then put some bleach in the sink and then fill the sink with warm/hot water and let it soak for a few minutes. Once it's done I drain the sink and then plug the drain and fill it up again with fresh water and let everything soak for a few minutes again to remove the bleach.

I then drain the sink again and then take the hose for the sink and rinse off each piece again. I've been doing this for 12 years with no problems.

I used to use a toothbrush with my plants but it wouldn't work too well where there were seams. That's why I went the bleach method and haven't looked back. I don't use bleach for my colored plants, I leave them as is. BTW, I no longer use the white plants anyway.

 

[Lone Wolff]

Rub the algae off the plants with fingers about once a year. It's free, quick, non-toxic, and painless. Not sure why people go thru all the work of scrubbing and bleaching. Mine have never needed it. They usually last about 10-15 years before I end up replacing them.

 

[TMony]

Thanks everyone!!