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Bleached fish tank rock and filter2007-11-24 23:10:19

as u r bleaching them... they 'll definetely get affected by the chlorine present in the bleaching powder..this might cause to the unfortunate death of the fish...

.. do not bleach them hereafter.., just wash them nicely with Water....(just HOT not BOILING)... Hope this helped... if u have any doubts regarding this.. do e-mail me... as i would let u know ..

Neha :)

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Yep next time just use hot water. I don't know if there is anything you can do to speed up the process.

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A bleach water mix is perfectly fine to use to clean tanks, filters, decorations. Just be sure to rinse well, and use a dechlorinator-like you've done. The only thing I'd be concerned about, is the rock. If it's really porous, it may have absorbed some of the bleach, and that would be hard to rinse off, and I can't really say if it'd be safe to use in the tank. The bleach may leech out over time, and I don't know if the dechlorinator you use in the tank would be enough to "combat" that. To be on the safe side, I'd leave the rock out. Filter should be fine though.

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First, in my opinion, even one drop of bleach is too much. You are taking risks by using bleach that I, personally, don't feel are worth taking. Next, it just isn't that important to clean a tank that well. You have completely destroyed whatever beneficial bacteria may have ever developed on and in that rock. It's a good thing that "stuff" (except for poop, of course, but that should come out with a good rinse) gets stuck in all those little holes. There is a big misconception about algae. At least a lot of it. It may be a little unattractive, but in truth, a little of it is good for your tank. I'm not a scientist and I haven't done any studies. This is just my own concerns that drive my method of operation, but my advice is to wait weeks, about 4 is what I would wait. I always let my accessories, etc. dry for a month after I use resin, acrylic, and even aquarium-safe glues because it just isn't worth it to me to take the chance of killing fish. Patience is a lot easier to deal with than the knowledge that I killed a fish because I was in a hurry.

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Chlorine as a cleaning agent for a complete tear-down is perfectly fine as long as you detoxify it as you seem to have done. Keep in mind that chlorine is quite unstable. Remember when it was common to simply leave tap water out overnight for the chlorine to evaporate? Well, the chlorine in your bleach is the same. I'm confident that it is all gone. But this does not make your porous rock safe, necessarily. I would suggest you read the label of the bleach you used to determine if the bleach contained any surfactants, soaps, colors, or perfumes. If you can answer yes to any of the above, I recommend you throw it out and get a fresh piece from your local pet store. Again, chlorine is safe to use as a disinfectant in a 10% solution provided you detoxify it afterwards.

As an aside, chlorine is not neccessary as regular maintainance as it can and will kill the beneficial notrosoma and nirtosonoma bacteria which lives in a cycling tank.