cleaning used plastic plants - how?

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venymae

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Location
Kansas, USA
I got several plants from a friend who is no longer keeping his aquarium (it's probably a good thing for the sake of his fish) and gave me his used plastic plants. They are were very dirty and covered in algae when he took them out and were left to dry that way.
Aside from scrubbing each leaf with a toothbrush, what can I do to get them clean?
I've rinsed them several times with water, soaked them overnight in 50:50 vinegar water and vigorously shook them in the water.
This got rid of most of the gunk, but the algae that dried onto the leaves looks bad and is not coming off.:mad:

Any ideas?
 
Try soaking it in hydrogen peroxide for maybe a night and then try scrubbing it.
 
Believe it or not you can run them through the dishwasher ( without the soap) works really well. This is what I did before I switched to live plants
 
I keep a scrub brush to use only on my aquarium decor (just like the ones people often use on dishes). I clean the bottom of my sink well, rinse it with vinegar, then hold the plant against the bottom of the sink, brush the plant as if it was hair, and rinse.
 
I use straight hydrogen peroxide to soak algae covered aquarium equipment, decor, etc. It takes patience but it works. Soak 30 min then scrub, soak, scrub, repeat. Try soaking and scrubbing and resoaking and then run through dishwasher.

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Baking soda works great for scrubbing. You can also soak them in Oxyclean. I was given that advice on the puffer forum. It works surprisingly well and is easy to rinse off.
 
Baking soda works great for scrubbing. You can also soak them in Oxyclean. I was given that advice on the puffer forum. It works surprisingly well and is easy to rinse off.

Oxyclean is essentially overpriced scented peroxide. Ask poison control. Had a patient one time came into the ER accidentally drank out of a glass of oxyclean she had poured to clean something. They said "its just peroxide... she might have a tummy ache. Have her drink two glasses of water and send her home"


See the companies won't tell you their 'patented' ingredients... but poison control HAS to know.

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Thanks for the info. I kinda wondered if it wasn't basically peroxide. I thought maybe they added something else to it. Now that I know that it is just peroxide I will stick to the cheaper option.
 
@ashleynicole epic advice and a seriously epic post.

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You can also mix 1% non-scented bleach to 10% water, soak, rinse well, soak in water w/Prime. It won't bleach out the plants and gets rid of the algae.
 
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