BEWARE! Splash less bleach and Purigen

[Sambo7475]

I cleaned my tanks yesterday, and decided to refresh my purigen. Like always, I did the 1:1 concentration of bleach to water to soak the purigen. As I gave the container a shake, bubbles formed, as though there was dish soap in the container. I looked at the bleach bottle, it said "Splash less formulation," but no ingredients list. I looked at Clorox's website, but there is no mention of the contents either. I called the 800 number, and the lady read me a list of the ingredients, which match my laundry detergent. After I got this information, I rinsed my bags of purigen for about 10 minutes, but the bubbles come back when you add them to just plain water and give a shake.
I am going to throw away the purigen and start over. Unfortunately this was to be the first regeneration of this batch, but I'm glad I noticed it before adding to my filters. Hopefully this helps someone save their fish too.

 

[Laeris]

:| WTG, Clorox. Thanks for the warning!

 

[brennae]

I'm glad you posted this. When I bought bleach for aquarium use all I could find was splash less. Doh!

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[Sambo7475]

specifically, cetyl-betaine and coco-betaine. They are surfactants, and cause the foaming. I'm not sure if it would be harmful to fish, but I'm not willing to try it out. Just found the information on clorox's website:
https://www.thecloroxcompany.com/pr...cloroxsplashlesscleanlinenbleachconcentrated/

 

[brennae]

Yeah I just wanted to disinfect nets and specimen containers. I'll have to look for o ld school bleach now. Stupid that I couldn't find any at Menards.

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[Laeris]

What about five and dime/dollar stores? I tend to go to those shops to find simpler items the fancy pants retailers won't carry any more.


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[nkoyko]

Target still sells regular bleach. I bought some not to long ago to clean some random stuff.

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[Sambo7475]

Target still sells regular bleach. I bought some not to long ago to clean some random stuff.

yes, it's definitely still available, I just wanted people to be aware that the splashless has other stuff in it beside sodium hypochlorite. I just bought some regular bleach at my local grocery store yesterday.

 

[Sambo7475]

I just got an email back from Seachem, the manufacturer of purigen. They confirmed my fears: Yes scented or splashless bleach will foul purigen, since it is so porous, there is no way to fully rinse the bleach out, and yes, it is harmful to fish (also may make your tank foamy).
Well, off to the LFS for more purigen.

 

[Minato]

I just got an email back from Seachem, the manufacturer of purigen. They confirmed my fears: Yes scented or splashless bleach will foul purigen, since it is so porous, there is no way to fully rinse the bleach out, and yes, it is harmful to fish (also may make your tank foamy).
Well, off to the LFS for more purigen.

I never cleaned my aquarium with any solution, I know our tap water is chlorinated and my hot water runs around 80C when I clean my tanks, I let them will up by bath and overflow into a bath, I let the hot water to circulate the tank for around and hour, never had any problems as most common bugs get killed as some point in the hot chlorinated water. So I never used or had to worry about using such products


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[Sambo7475]

I use purigen in my tanks to help with water clarity. I use it in place of the activated carbon/charcoal in my filters. It keeps the water clearer than the carbon, and is regenerated after use by soaking in a bleach solution. I posted the warning to hopefully save others money/lost fish if they use this product.

Out of curiosity, the 80C water doesn't harm your fish, or did I mis-understand how you do it?

 

[TbOnE]

I had the same problem. The way I see it, I'd rather spend 10 bucks than risk poisoning my entire tank

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[Minato]

I use purigen in my tanks to help with water clarity. I use it in place of the activated carbon/charcoal in my filters. It keeps the water clearer than the carbon, and is regenerated after use by soaking in a bleach solution. I posted the warning to hopefully save others money/lost fish if they use this product.

Out of curiosity, the 80C water doesn't harm your fish, or did I mis-understand how you do it?

I transfer my fish when I do full cleanup 80C, but other than that I do 20% water change as I have overflow filter running on 2X 1200L/h (ceramic,lot of carbon and other filter media such as sand and certain type of filter gravel) and I only have 250l tank


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[jarrod0987]

Tiny residue of surfactants not likely harm anything. Having any quantity of them breaks the surface tension and lets all the oxygen out of your water and kills everything that needs oxygen by suffocation. At least that's the way I was taught. IMO, if you can see suds that's bad bad bad.

 

[Sambo7475]

I transfer my fish when I do full cleanup 80C, but other than that I do 20% water change as I have overflow filter running on 2X 1200L/h (ceramic,lot of carbon and other filter media such as sand and certain type of filter gravel) and I only have 250l tank

Ok, that makes sense, thanks for clarifying. And peace to your fish as well

 

[PNWaquarist]

Thanks for the warning.

 

[amydaveg]

When you guys recharge the Purigen, do you keep it on "the bag" ?

I seem to lose more Purigen when I try to get it all out of the filter bag and put it in a glass bowl. I would love to recharge in the bag. (I have the bag from seachem)

Thanks.


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[Fishobsessed7]

I leave it the bag and it does fine.


Fishobsessed7

Money Can't Buy Happiness, But It Can Buy Fish Which Is Pretty Much The Same Thing

 

[Sambo7475]

I always leave it in the bag as well.