Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (week 5)
Right then, rather just a bit of blurb like 'i cleaned my glass' I thought I'd show how I did it.
First off when I changed my plastic in/out pipes to glass I added either a touch of olive oil or petroleum jelly to the ends of the glass. I can't remember which but either will work. This was to aid removal for cleaning. Today is the first time I've cleaned them.
1. Get supplies together. I had a bucket, superge, a spring brush and a towel handy.
2. Turn off your filter! Sounds obvious but it's the sort of thing that is easy to overlook. This applies to inline heaters as well. I use a hydor inline, so turned that off too.
3. Use a finger nail to prise back the edge of the hose. Doesn't need to be much. Just enough to break the seal that may have built up. It's worth warming the hoses a little too. Nothing too excessive but some warmth will help. I used a hairdryer for about 20 seconds keeping it moving.
4. Hold the hose firmly and twist the glass. You should feel the seal break and then the glass should move quite freely. Be ready with a towel as you may get some leakage when you remove it. The filter pressure might cause some return through the inlet pipe. I quickly attached my old plastic inlet which hooked over the side of the tank.
If you have a particularly dirty lily pipe you may need a longer soak, in which case you can use the old plastic in/out to run the filter.
5. Take your glassware to the sink and inspect for cracks or breakages. There shouldn't be any but this is a good time for a once over. you can also get a better look at any algae or grime that has built up. Mine isn't really too bad but even small amounts can spoil the looks of glassware.
6. Mix up your cleaning solution. I'm using ADA superge, which I think is quite heavy in chlorine (more on that later). This is a simple one cap to a litre and I used 2 litres in a bucket and let it soak for ten minutes. While this was soaking I used my pipe brush to clean the visible ends of the filter hoses.
BEWARE! I did this not thinking that when I turned the filter back on all the dross I'd scraped from the hose would be shot straight into the tank. Luckily I had a net handy and I managed to catch most of it. That means you will have some nasties floating about for a while. Best thing is to do a water change and hoover the substrate.
7. Take your brush and give the insides of the lily pipe a good going over. Resist the urge to remove the brush and rinse too early. You'll be washing away the cleaning solution. You want to keep that in there and use the brush to work it into any stubborn areas, like so:
8. Once your happy remove the brush and rinse thoroughly. If you think it's clean and rinsed, rinse it again! The change the water in your bucket and add a heavy dose of dechorinator. Cleaning products can be quite nasty so this is important, or you may end up destroying all those good bacteria and having to cycle again (meaning your fauna will need a holiday). It's worth running through with normal tap water for a few minutes too, just to make sure you've cleared any solution out fully. Then a final dunk in dechlorinated water.
9. Refit the pipes back to the hoses, not forgetting to add a little olive oil or jelly to the ends for next time.
Set everything back up and be ready with a net to catch all the gunk from the outlet. Alternatively you could drain the hoses and filter and give everything a good clean and make a day of it.
10. Everything should be back to looking new and lovely. It's amazing how different clean glassware makes your tank look.
I hope this is of some use to somebody. I was hesitant about certain parts, so if this is an aid in any way then great!
Cheers all
Rob
