haven't washed out cleaned decoration

[adnanosmani07]

Hey,

I have a 25 gal tank setup for about 1 and a half year, I don't know if I should take the plastic plants and a fake drift wood out for a wash?

 

[rmiller]

Are they dirty?

 

[adnanosmani07]

Are they dirty?

Ya, I think it's algae caz it's almost black

 

[rmiller]

How long do you run your lights each day?

 

[adnanosmani07]

How long do you run your lights each day?

8 hr now frim 12

 

[adnanosmani07]

How long do you run your lights each day?

Do you wash decoys at all?

 

[adnanosmani07]

Do you wash decoys at all?

Decorations I mean, caz I haven't yet washed any at all

 

[rmiller]

Do you have any live plants?

I only have one tank with fake decor in it and the lights on that tank are only on 2-3 hours a day at best. It gets mostly natural light. My other tank has tons of plants that take up all the nutrients that algae needs to be able to form.

You can take the fake decor out and wash it. I would start with plain dechlorinated water and see if it comes off easily. If not you may need to use bleach. If you need to go the bleach route make sure you rinse it several times in fresh water until you can no longer smell the bleach. Then just to be safe I would soak it in dechlorinated water for a few minutes to make sure there is no bleach hiding in any cracks or crevasses that could potentially harm your fish.

 

[fisheatfish]

Im kind of new to all this but wouldn't some of these hold beneficial bacteria ?
May need to watch your levels afterwords as the tank might go through a mini cycle?
Again I am new to this so dont take my word for it

 

[Fishman007]

Im kind of new to all this but wouldn't some of these hold beneficial bacteria ?
May need to watch your levels afterwords as the tank might go through a mini cycle?
Again I am new to this so dont take my word for it

Unless his tank is new than he wont have to worry, decor only holds some bb, substrate and the filter hold alot too

 

[rmiller]

Good question fisheatfish! Never hurts to ask if you're not sure. The bacteria colony lives mainly in the filter media like the sponge or bio-rings/balls. If losing what minuscule amount of bacteria lives on the decor causes a mini cycle there is a bigger problems than a bit of algae.

 

[adnanosmani07]

Do you have any live plants?

I only have one tank with fake decor in it and the lights on that tank are only on 2-3 hours a day at best. It gets mostly natural light. My other tank has tons of plants that take up all the nutrients that algae needs to be able to form.

You can take the fake decor out and wash it. I would start with plain dechlorinated water and see if it comes off easily. If not you may need to use bleach. If you need to go the bleach route make sure you rinse it several times in fresh water until you can no longer smell the bleach. Then just to be safe I would soak it in dechlorinated water for a few minutes to make sure there is no bleach hiding in any cracks or crevasses that could potentially harm your fish.

Ok, so when I do my weekly water change I'll use the water from my tank that I'm going to replace and wash it with that and see

Thanks

 

[rmiller]

That will give you a good idea of whether or not its going to want to come off without much persuasion.

 

[adnanosmani07]

That will give you a good idea of whether or not its going to want to come off without much persuasion.[/QUOT

Thanks big guy