Cannot unclog CO2 diffusor with bleach?

[torque6]

Finally decided to clean my co2 diffusor after months of use. Read that a simple 15mins bleach will restore the ceramic disc to its former glory....

This is what my diffusor looks like after 12 hours of soaking. I am using 1/3 kao bleach powder with 1 cup of water, solution is quite concentrated. Seems very ineffective. Should i either change to h202 hyrogen peroxide or excel ? or would it be cheaper if i get a spare co2 diffusor and soak this one with blackout at the same time for a week?

[bossteck]

I use 50-50 bleach / water solution. The disc became white about about 30 minutes of soaking. Do remember to flush the diffuser thoroughly after that and soak in water with plenty of anti-cholorine solution added.

[Shadow]

It should work, did that couple of times. I'm using Clorox brand in liquid not sure if itis more powerfull than the KAO bleach powder. H2O2 not that cheap compare to clorox but safer.

[jacian]

For some reasons, I did not manage to unclog my diffusor using the bleach solution. Maybe the bleach solution I used is not strong enough.

[bossteck]

Incidently, I used Clorox bleach as well... just like Shadow.
Jacian, what ratio of bleach to water do you use?

[jacian]

I am using only 1:10 as I am too worried of the cholorine.
Also, as I am using the KAO colour bleach, wonder if that is ok.

[RHX]

I've used KAO powder bleach before. It took me a week to get the ceremic disk white.

[torque6]

thanks guys, so all in all, kao bleach isnt so effective? No wonder last time i treat my BGA infested moss, it took 5 hours before the BGA dies offs and came off my mosses.

bossteck/shadow, does the ceramic disk turns white after soaking in bleach or after soaking it in anti-chlorine?

As jacian/RHX observed, kao bleach might be too ineffective against unclogging diffusor with algae, much less kill them. How about my suggestion of storing and soaking the diffusor in the cupboard, so there is no light thus killing the algae? No quick solution but it gets the job done.

[EvolutionZ]

i used to soak my diffuser in bleach once a month too.. with clorox bleach too..

[benetay]

I did mine 100% bleach. Came out very nicely. Flush it with water and soak it with anti-cholorine liquid. Did a final flush with water & back into the tank. No worries just make sure it's free from bleach. I put it back into a tank of A.Mendezi. It didn't die . Took me about 10-15 minutes.



Cheers!

[CK Yeo]

You should be getting bleach with only sodium hypochloride. The normal plain Clorox confirms works. The cheaper generic brands in green bottle ones works too.

ck

[bossteck]

bossteck/shadow, does the ceramic disk turns white after soaking in bleach or after soaking it in anti-chlorine?

Yes, after soaking the disk turned white.

[benetay]

You should be getting bleach with only sodium hypochloride. The normal plain Clorox confirms works. The cheaper generic brands in green bottle ones works too.

ck

Yes i was using the cheaper brand in green bottle but it works! Get what works!

Cheers!

[torque6]

thanks for the support guys. Will go and get the regular clorox bleach then. My appreciate for the great feedback.

[benetay]

no worries, just make sure that you post your results after doing so.

Cheers!

[torque6]

got the clorox bleach at NTUC as suggested. Cost around $3.95 for a 4L solution. I couldnt find the regular green bottle, just the light blues one.

I am quite satisfied with the results. Just a short 3 hours soak in a 50/50 solution and whoa la !. Super clean ! Appreciate all the help guys ! Many thanks.



Im resoaking it overnight in seachem Prime solution. Hope by tomorrow no more bleach smell.

Btw, a bit off topic, would i be able to use this same solution to clean newly bought plants from LFS before planting into main tank? Is a 10mins soak enough time to remove algae and bacteria from them ?

[CK Yeo]

Green bottles are the generic brands, not Clorox.

Yes, you can soak plants in diluted bleach. If I don't remember wrongly, it should be 5% solution (1 part bleach to 19 part water). But certain plants do not take bleach well and will melt e.g. Valisneria, Hydrilla, Riccia.

ck

[Jervis]

Interesting read... I better go get a bottle on stand by How important is anti-chlorine then?

[benetay]

That depends on how you value your plants & fishes, i do value mine so a bottle of anti-cholorine might be helpful. I do not want to see all my plants melting or fish dying. Over doing it or 'play safe' might be better in this case. Just cannot risk a 1 year old scape or a thousand dollar pair apisto.

I still find the generic green bottle bleach quite concentrated.

torque must be over the moon upon seeing a brand new diffuser!

Cheers!

[Simon]

you guys are dead serious!!! 30mins? 1hour? I normally soak my ADA pollen for 5mins or less and soak in anti-chlorine for another 10mins. Yes, good as new