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Cleaning hardscape by soaking in glutaraldehyde

Geoffrey Rea

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As the title suggests I have a fair few large pieces of manzanita wood that I wanted to clean and reuse.

Not keen on painting glut on due to the sheer amount needed this time and risks involved with inhalation.

If the wood was put in a water barrel with 100 litres of water in to soak, what amount in ml of 2% glutaraldehyde would be sensible to use to kill of all algae?
 
What about plain bleach or hydrogen peroxide, much cheaper and probably equally as effective.

Just leave to soak, rinse off and ready to go. Any remaining will quickly dissipate in tank water.
 
Mix my own glut down from 50% so not really a price issue. Haven’t got any non scented bleach in the house so was trying to use what’s to hand Ian. Is this a case of any of the above will do?

Will brush stuff off if necessary Andrew was just trying I find a lazy mans version through soaking overnight in a barrel.
 
I have used scented bleach on "fish items" no problem. Once rinsed and given a quick soak in dechlorinator to remove any final bleach left overs I just put it back in the tank.

If you are trying to remove BBA (black beard algae) the bleach just removes the colour leaving clear/translucent beard algae which is quickly scoffed by fish when back in the tank.
 
was just trying I find a lazy mans version through soaking overnight in a barrel
That's fair enough but it shouldn't take too much effort to give it a quick brush off and get rid of the loose stuff, unsure how bad it is.

I have used scented bleach on "fish items" no problem
Everyday is a school day but unscented bleach normally costs around 30p if you go near a supermarket.
 
Would such products not soak into the wood and be dangerous to return to the tank? Vs ornaments, rocks etc. they are a lot more permeable.
 
Just done this the other week on my friend's tank - savage black fur algae all over the wood.

We soaked it all in a bucket with hot but not boiling water with a glug of glut (don't breath, whatever you do). Then left it outside in the freezing cold (2c) for three days.

After that, scrub and multiple rinse in the bath and back in the tank. Looks brand new.

I'm pretty sure most of the suggestions here are pretty valid - jet washer would be something I would try in future.
 
Plain old supermarket bleach 1:1 with tap water, in a bucket leave over night. Next day scrub if necessary (any residue should come off fairly easily) and then rinse off. Refill bucket add dechlorinator, leave to soak for a bit, and job done.
For those very stubborn bits a jet-wash is ideal, but after the above it's not usually necessary.
 
glug of glut

That’s about as accurate as it got for me too @HiNtZ :lol:

Wood cleared fine.

Jet washer would muller the manzanita where it’s really thin so avoided that method. Other types of wood I would clean with a jet washer no problem though. Personally hate bleach for anything other than glassware and sterilising nets etc. Totally accept it would work just as well though.
 
If we're looking to disinfect (after a disease in the tank) what about milton - the stuff they use to sterilise baby bottles?

Never, ever heard it mentioned and am curious as to why.
 
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