Best Way To Sterilize

[Captain Findus Goldfish]

Everyone knows I am a germophobe. Okey so.

I have been wondering about the best way to sanitize the little aquarium brushes (I use them for cleaning the barebottom floor mostly).

Bleach: I am not comfortable using bleach on porous items. I don't think you can properly rinse them.

PP: I used that the other day but now the brush looks yucky brown -EWWW

Boil: I think pouring boiling water isn't enough. I would have to actually boil it for 20mins. No way of doing that - especially since the handle is cheap plastic.

Any ideas guys?

[Sakura]

Well... I have used bleach on porous items with no problems whatsoever! I've used it on spongy bubble wands, the sponge for my sponge filter, plastic filter parts, etc. Never had an issue doing it that way. I just soak in extra primed water afterward and then let the items air dry completely for 24 hrs.

Edited October 28, 2010 by Sakura

[amynmitchell]

I use the dishwasher on the super hot cycle. Works great.

[kukana d]

I use PP on everything-it may be dingy=BUT it's CLEANI would be afraid to use bleach also

[CountryLovah]

I use PP on everything-it may be dingy=BUT it's CLEANI would be afraid to use bleach also

Same!!!!!! i get annoyed when the buckets turn brown and stained but I dont care cause I know it's working... I've always been afraid to use bleach too, even though sooo many people use it. I would always be afraid I didn't rinse enough.

[Captain Findus Goldfish]

Hey Sue and Susan - do you deactivate it with HP or just let it be? How long do you soak the stuff for ?

[CountryLovah]

I'm a psycho so I soak things for a WHILE.. I've done it for days when disinfecting a tank that I KNOW had issues. But normally I let it be dark pink/purple for a few hours.. In a pinch 30 min. Depending what I am disinfecting and how much of a rush I am in. For example the other day I needed to move my fish Kate to a hospital tank ASAP and didnt have a set up that was clean so I PPed everything about 30min-1 hour and figured that better do it. But if I am planning it I try to go longer.

Sometimes I use HP sometimes not. You can use water conditioner too... No matter what you do it seems to get very brown and stains a lot of things but not most things you actually SEE in the tank. Like sponges and brushes get gross but the tank and filters and most ornaments and plants wipe down fine. So I figure, who cares if my sponge is brown?

Don't PP those little Seachem ammonia or ph alerts if you have em . They won't work after! (Did it accentally before)

[Captain Findus Goldfish]

Okey awesome! I usually do it before going to bed and leave it overnight. (just cause I leave the bowl in the sink so I minimize possible staining of house!) I also found that plastic containers get real clean with just wiping some vinegar on them after the soak. The stains seem to be mostly where there is some build up. yuck.

[kukana d]

I usually do a 3-4 hour soak also,and I do not deactivate-I just rinse. Be sure it remains the same shade of purple throughout the soaking-that means it's doing it's job.If it turns amber,it's stopped working(I'm sure you already know this,but thought I'd just include it for someone who may not know).

[koko]

I like the idea of the dishwasher.... Im going to have to try that sometime

[amynmitchell]

It works great...that same as boiling and you can load it up. In fact, my felxible bubble wand was clogged...I put it in the dishwaser and now it works great!