How do you use vinegar

[jeromefong]

Hi there,

I have been a subscriber to the podcast for a long time, but have just start getting around to listening to them. They are pretty informative and fit my bus ride to work perfectly. Keep up the good work.

In several early episodes, you mention you can clean things like a powerhead with vinegar. However, you never mention if you need to rinse the vinegar off in any special way. Is there something I need to do to neutralize the vinegar?

As I mentioned about, I'm still listening to your early podcasts, (up to episode 15). Have you done an episode on hospital tanks? Everyone and all the books say you should have one, but how do you put one together? I heard you put a live rock and a powerhead in the hospital tank. Let it cycle and then put your new fish in. However, how long do you need to leave the fish in the hospital tank? Do you need to toss your live rock after you are done? Or, do you throw away the rock after the fish dies? It just seems like a topic everyone agrees on, but very little details on how and what to do.

thanks,

Jerome

[CarmieJo]

Hi Jerome and :welcome: to TR.

The biggest thing about vinegar is that it is acidic and can lower your pH. I just rinse the things I've soaked in vinegar with tap water and then RO. Although I wouldn't add it to my tank on purpose a bit diluted of vinegar won't hurt anything

There are several ways to set up a hospital tank. The cycled tank you mention is one. While this provides good water quallity and stable parameters it means you have to keep a cycled tank up and running. I prefer to keep a sponge filter in my sump (this keeps it colonized with the proper bacteria) and pull it out to use as needed. After use toss it. You can also use a "sterile" tank, provide an airline for circulation and do lots of water changes to keep your water quality up.

[Rob]

yes, vinegar will not harm your tank in small amounts..
if you soaked your pump in vinegar pulled it out and put it directly into your tank it wouldn't hurt anything unless your tank was a small nano or pico tank.
a good water rinse is all thats needed, but its more to remove the loosened debris.. :)

as for the hospital tank, i dont believe they need to be cycles, they should be maintained simply by doing frequent water changes. they are setup when needed and torn down and sterilized when not needed.. you dont have ti cycle them at all

[wildeone]

Vinegar ROCKS! Before I was a reefer, I thought it was only good on fried fish and french fries! Now I have 2 gallons on hand at all times. I not only use it on my pumps, but also I clean my glass with it, it is safer than glass cleaner.

[CarmieJo]

I also use it to clean my skimmer. I kind of started this by accident, I'd been cleaning pumps and was feeling lazy so instead of doing a really good cleaning of my skimmer I just washed the worse of the goop off and stuck it in the bin with the pumps running. It came out clean and shiny and then skimmed better than ever. So now every time I clean pumps I do the skimmer too.

[keyozoxmfc]

so with the quarantine tank, you just put the new fish in with no filtration? because right now i have a penguin bio wheel running on my tank and have an empty 10 gallon sitting under my stand. iwas planning on changing my normal 10 gallons from my reef and putting it in the 10 gallon. then i was gonna put the bio wheel on it. and then i was planning on getting a cheap chromis to cycle( yes i know this is controversial but im just saying what the lfs said for me to do) and then leave the chromis in there until i have finished QTing all the fish i plan to get. and then im not sure what i was supposed to do with the chromis..jjust make that his home or to put him in my tank and leave the bio wheel running on my reef and empty the 10 gallon? and also i was going to add some PVC pipes for places to hide. and then also about using it when a fish gets sick..how do i do that...empty 10 gallons from my reef? mix 10 new gallons? do 50/50? either way id have to prepare 10 gallons for fresh saltwater. but is that the way to do it because then wouldnt i have to leave the sick fish in the tank for at least a day to mix up this water?

thanks for any help!

[carlosmh]

I BUy vinegar at sams every two weeks! I even use it to clean my floors with. And it does work ggreat on glass. No streaks. It a good exfoliant too. I have a cosmotologist as a sister!

[pammy]

Hello. Are you using straight vinegar to clean things, or are you diluting it? If you're diluting it....how much vinegar to water? Do you use it straight to clean certain things like powerheads and dilute it to clean other things like large storage containers for RO ? Thanks! Pam....Reefer in Training. :) About two weeks away from adding water to my tank! :) :)

[CarmieJo]

Pam,

I mostly use it diluted. I am VERY precise, I just pour some into the water. I would guess that it is at no more than 1:10 ratio.

[TerraC]

as already said it wont do your tank any harm in low quantitys. I use small ammount s of vinegar in my kalkwasser mix (5ml per litre) helps the binding process, less precipitation etc. Distilled clear white vinegar. Great for cleaning pumps, powerheads and skimmers too.

[carlosmh]

i too mix with kalk, but when im doing any type of cleaning all i use is straight vinegar. i mean thats all i use in the vacinity of my tank. I even use it to clean the outside of my glass, because glass cleaner has amonia, and it streaks. you cant go wrong with it. I have never heard of anyone overdosing vinegar or killing their reef with some vinegar.

[pammy]

Thanks all!

[CarmieJo]

If you clean the glass with a bit of vinegar water and crumpled newspaper it will look super sparkling!

[pammy]

Great tip Carmie! I'll definitely be doing that! :)



If you clean the glass with a bit of vinegar water and crumpled newspaper it will look super sparkling!

[CarmieJo]

My dad always swore by newspaper for cleaning windows and I've never found anything better. It probably started out as a frugal farm family/depression era tip.