First full clean help needed

[Deano3]

hi all I am doing my first full tank clean later I have no fish in there yet just plants I was planning to clean the Lilly pipes first also the filter tubing is brown inside but not sure if can clean this , I do t have a brush but was going to soak in a bleach solution but how much bleach to hot water ? Will it just rinse out after leaving it for 20 mins ? Also I will be cleaning glass and the rocks with toothbrush but I will also be doing my foray filter clean I have a thermo enheim I will clean the the trays with the water from the tank but the 2 blue and white foam pads should I replace or just rinse them out ? Tank been running around 3 weeks

Any help would be great
Thanks dean

 

[Henry]

I have no experience of using bleach on diatoms, so I'll wait for someone else to comment on that.
Rinsing thoroughly should get rid of any bleach, but people like to rinse in water that has had a triple dose of de-chlorinator, just to be sure any residue is taken care of.
Filter pads, assuming they are still in decent condition, should be squeezed out in dechlorinated water until they are reasonably clean. They don't need to be immaculate, just free enough of debris to prevent any clogging.

I'd imagine that after 3 weeks running in a tank with no fish, you won't have much to clean out.

 

[Willard]

Hi Dean,
I dont know about bleach, but maybe some of the more experienced folks on here could advise about that?

I have just cleaned the tubes on my ecco pro using the eheim cleaning kit. Its a flexible nylon cord with various sized brushes. You feed it through the tubes and just pull the brush end through.

I was amazed at how well it worked and the amountt of sludge that came out was surprising. Costs about a tenner.

Keep the blue foam just rinse in tank water and maybe the white one too depending on its condition.

 

[Deano3]

thanks guys and I have no brushes yet so will have to purchase, does anyone else know if using bleach and water is good way to clean lilly pipes

thanks dean

 

[ian_m]

I have used all sorts of simple inorganic cleaners (bleach, vinegar, Kilrock descaler) on my tanks and equipment and hardscape over the years no issue. Just make sure you rinse thoroughly afterwards and soak/rinse in water with say 2-4 times normal amount of dechlorinator afterwards.

 

[tim]

You can bleach them mate good rinse after and a dip in strong dechlorinated water is the method I use for glassware.

 

[Deano3]

Thanks for that so do u not use any brushes or anything ? Also how much bleach should I put in bucket or bowl and is it ok to put filter pipes in aswel asking as use my seachem prime afterwards ( strong mix) just not sure if few drops or quite a but and just in warm water yeah ?

Thanks again guys dean

 

[tim]

I use a 1 bleach to 10 water mix for my glassware and double strength dechlorinated water to remove any bleach after soak for about 15 mins only ever used brushes for my filter pipes though mate so wouldn't like to comment on whether that would work or not, I use warm water, hope this helps mate.

 

[Deano3]

very helpful tim thanks a lot I am going to get the lilly pipes done tonight and will leave the pipes for now and get a brush ordered is there any u recommend a cheapish one ? and do you heat pipes to get off the lilly pipes ?

Thanks dean

 

[tim]

Hey mate I use a little Vaseline on the end of the Lilly pipes and lots of gentle persuasion to get them off, not sure if heat would help, I'm using a jbl cleany for the pipes does the job but not the most robust design brush has come off in the pipe a couple of times.not tried any others yet.

 

[Deano3]

no problem will have a look

Thanks again tim

 

[Ady34]

Push your Pipes further on to the glassware, this breaks the seal and they then slide back off easily