Cleaning Aquarium Ornaments

[Uncle Albert]

Any suggestions on the most effective and proper way*SUNSMILE* to remove dirt, algae, etc ??

Thanks in advance!

UA

 

[midmichman80]

If I have an algae problem and need to scrape that off an ornament I would usually pull it out of the tank and run it under hot water and scrub with an algae brush, but that would only be if it got real bad. What is your purpose for cleaning the ornaments? The good bacteria that keeps the tank cycled will house itself on your ornaments so it isn't a good idea to clean them too often. If/when you do clean them, you should watch your tank for an ammonia spike. If you just have a little bit of algae on the ornament you might just clean it in a bucket of water that you've filled from the tank itself during a water change. This way you can still keep the good bacteria alive on any places that you don't scrape. Hope this helps ya out.

 

[big54bob]

What we did for my brother when he had algae was we dipped the ornaments in bleach. Worked like a charm.

 

[Mturner615]

I blanched them in boiling water for a few seconds, then let them dry, and the just wiped the excess algae off. Or you can invest in some good algae eaters and just let them do the job.

 

[bmoraski]

all i do if my ornaments get some build up is swoosh around in bucket of water your changing out like was said above
if its bad i take a tooth brush in that same water and gently brush
this is the same way i do my bio filter when it gets to much goop and my flow is restricted.
hope this helps

 

[Matt Nace]

Plain bleach diluted and soak for a little..you will see the algae fade away. Works very well on fake plants that stink to clean. Even worked on the silk plants.

There should be plenty of benificial bacteria in the filter, tank glass..gravel that bleaching your stuff wont hurt any. Just rinse very well before putting back.

 

[Monoxide]

Tooth Brush*thumbsups And then it just kept fading my big boat, to where I bought new decos

 

[sombunya]

I do them one at a time.

Do one today, wait a couple days and then do another. That way you won't lose all the good, nitrifying bacteria at once.

 

[bmoraski]

I do them one at a time.

Do one today, wait a couple days and then do another. That way you won't lose all the good, nitrifying bacteria at once.

Thats great ! LOL
thats what i do
later

 

[rasboravalarie]

I personally would NEVER do the bleach thing. Just use hot water, a good-quality algae sponge, and some elbow grease ! Just treat them as the tank's walls. That's what I do!

 

[RexyTexel]

You can do a bleach soak. Just soak the ornaments in a heavily diluted bleach/water mixture for a day. Let them air dry and them soak in regular water for a day. You can rinse them under hot water too so that all the bleach is gone. If you don't feel comfortable with that I've heard using baking soda and water helps. Or an old fashioned tooth brush lol. Nothing works like elbow grease!