So I have soaked my plants in bleach.... Now what?

[arenaranger]

Hello,

I have soaked two of my artificial plant in a bleach mixture about 1 part bleach to 10 parts hot water. They have never been cleaned in three years
And have come up really really good. I never have really had an algae problem but the plants were getting to the point that they were looking grungy.

After I removed them from the bleach mixture I rinsed the heck out of them for like five minutes under the tap with hot water. I now have them sitting in an bucket of fresh hot water with two capfuls of prime mixed in. That is a pretty heavy mixture of prime. I have read a bit about making sure that you can't smell the bleach on the plants but my hands and even the house smell like bleach right now so it is hard to tell if they smell like it or not.

How do you know when it is o.k. to remove the plants and place them back into the aquarium? Will the prime remove any trace of bleach and neutralize it?

Thanks for the help as always.

 

[KevinKY]

When in doubt, rinse them again with tap water and set out on a towel to dry. It sounds like you have already taken the necessary precautions so you should be good to go.

 

[arenaranger]

Ok, but is there generally a timeframe that the plants should soak in the fresh hot water with prime mixed in?

Thanks a bunch KevinKY.

 

[JessiNoel21]

I usually soak them for 2 hours than let them air dry for a day

 

[arenaranger]

JessiNoel21,

It sounds like from your response that you also use bleach to clean your plants.

Is your procedure basically the same as mine? Do you find that the plants have a whitish tinge on the leaves when dry but look fine when they are wet?

Have you ever had any troubles cleaning this way?

Sorry for the questions, like I said, I have never used the bleach before and am now nervous to put the plants back in the tank.

Thanks again,

 

[arenaranger]

Ok, so I have removed the plants from the fresh water with the heavy dose of prime in it to neutralize the bleach and then completely dried the the plants using a hairdryer. I am ready to put them back into the aquarium but one of the plants still has a very mild odor of bleach while the other does not. They were both in the fresh water with prime for the same period of time.

Is it ok to add the plants back into the aquarium with that slight smell of bleach on the one plant? I should also point out that the plant that has the odor has gone somewhat whitish when it is dry. It looks perfect when it is wet.

Please advise with your thoughts.

 

[JessiNoel21]

I would soak the other one again to be safe and yes mine than to have a white tint to them and look normal wet .

 

[arenaranger]

Thanks to everyone who chimed in. Based on the advice I got here, I decided to soak them again in 5 gallons of fresh hot water and two capfuls of prime. When I woke up this morning, I took plants out f bucket and completely dried them again using the hairdryer, and after they were completely dry I could not smell even a trace of bleach. I have put the plants back in the tank and everything seems great.

Thank you very much everyone for assisting. I have now realized that you can and will get every noticeable trace of bleach smell off of the plants if you give it time.