# Fish Tank Question



## tem_sat (Jun 20, 2010)

For all of you who have beautiful fish tanks, can you please tell me a safe way to clean algae off of shells? I have tried vinegar, boiling water, scrubbing with a sponge and toothbrush, and nothing seems to work. I realize bleach would do the trick, but is it safe, and what is the exact procedure, if so?

Thank you in advance!


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

I used to keep tanks, what kind of algae is it? next what kind of tank are you keeping? fresh or salt water? For cleaning things i usually used a bleach soak for freshwater additions conch shells etc 50/50 soak 20-30 min. I would only add things when i would do a change or cleaning generally i would use some of the water from that to soak it after the bleach soak in a small bucket for another 20-30 min and then discard the water. I wouldn't feel safe adding it unless it was soaked in my tanks water prior.

That was for fresh water, In my reef tanks i never cleaned any of the rock or shells ass the natural look was more appealing to me. hope this helps


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## swolek (Mar 31, 2011)

Is this a freshwater tank? I don't like using shells in freshwater, partially for that reason.

Diluted bleach would work fine, just rinse them really well afterward and let them dry. Do you know what kind of algae it is (or even the color)?


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## eternalstudent (Jul 22, 2010)

If yo have any hydrogen peroxide solution that I would say its the best. It is a bleach but is not you classic chlorine bleach. Once it has reacted it is simply water.


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## tem_sat (Jun 20, 2010)

Forgive me for being a fish tank dingbat. The fish tank is approximately 45ish gallons and is fresh water with 2 fish in it -- 15 year old cichlid and a slivery shark looking fish. :biggrin: The shells and rocks have very dark green algae on them. The idea of the diluted bleach solution and soaking in some of the fish tank water sounds like a good idea.


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

I forgot to ask as well, how often are you testing nitrate, and phosphate levels? do you have a living substrate? or are the plants in your aquarium plastic? How often are you cleaning your tank, or doing a 50/50? it could just come back after you do the cleaning is the only reason i'm asking.


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## tem_sat (Jun 20, 2010)

Tobi said:


> I forgot to ask as well, how often are you testing nitrate, and phosphate levels? do you have a living substrate? or are the plants in your aquarium plastic? How often are you cleaning your tank, or doing a 50/50? it could just come back after you do the cleaning is the only reason i'm asking.


Omg...fish tank guilt!

Nitrate test: never have done that.

Phosphate level: never have done that either!

Living substrate: no.

No plants, they got eaten!

Tank gets cleaned about once every 2 weeks and about 25% to 40% of water replaced.

I am sure you are correct that the algae would come back, but at least it will look ok for a bit!


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

Living tanks are so much fun! i wish i had the pictures of mine, i did have a few plant eaters which i removed and sold they made me so mad! as long as you're not worried about the algae coming back no biggie, you could always get a common plecostomus If you're interested in maintenance free algae removal  there is a really good writeup on the few family's of them here


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

I actually tried putting my fish 'toys' in the dishwasher to get them clean and found out that the bleach in the dishwasher soap turned them all green. Then I had to scrub them with a toothbrush to try and get the dried on green stuff off of them.

Luckily my fish have gotten too big to have any toys in their tank now. They started out with shells and a mountain, and a large unkwown coral shaped thing, and now they just have two fake small plants. 

Good luck getting the toys clean....... We did the tank cleaning today and I swear those fish are dirty already.


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## swolek (Mar 31, 2011)

Most pet stores will test a water sample for free .

Although you might not get nitrate/phosphate readings if the algae is using it all up to grow.


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