Cleaning with Vinegar
 

So I always hear everyone seems to clean their equipment with vinegar, so I figure I need to quite being lazy and at least clean my powerheads (maybe the next big step will be my return pump after that. So my question is how much vinegar do you guys mix with water, and do you then just put the equipment in there for a certain amount of time and rinse or is there more to it?

I use about a cup or two of vinegar to a half gallon of water, more if I'm in a hurry. I usually get impatient and scrub the stuff, but if you leave it long enough, the coraline will come off on it's own, assuming there isn't enough to neutralize the vinegar.

Good to know, being lazy myself I'm gonna use more and hopefully the coralline just comes off.
Thanks Brad for the response.

Let it sit for an hour or two and it should come right off, no scrubbing required.

I find using warm, but not hot water works best as well. It just seems to soften up coraline, but not remove it when the water is really hot.

I use about a 10 to 1 ratio of water to vinegar and let it soak overnight, after that you just rinse it off, hardly any scrubbing.

I usaly use pure vinager for pumps and such, let them soak untill the coraline is soft then hit it with a brush under the tap to get all the cracks and crannies

Steve

Catherine, heat only accelerates the reaction, but yes, it does speed it up. Basically you're creating an acid/base reation, the more acid (stronger vinegar) the quicker it happens. heat helps the reaction. Which is also the reason for my comment about lots of coraline, too much base and there isn't enough acid to complete the reaction, so you get left with white patches. Add more acid, the reation continues.

Steve, I understand that pure vinegar could eventually damage seals(rubber ones, not furry ones), oe was it bleach? Either way, I don't use pure vinegar because of this, and hell, it's 3 bucks a jug! :)

I use a 50/50 water & vinegar mix. I reuse it about 3 times before I throw it out.

Vinegar is pretty cheap at COSTCO. You get 2 hugh bottles for $3 or $4.

Tom R

I use pure vinegar and soak for a few hours. I re-use it a few times as well. It doesn't lose its potency, but neither did my wife when she almost used a bit of the cleaning vinegar in her cooking. Sheeesh, coralline is just a bit of calcium - it's good for you!

Thanks everyone for all the great responses.

yup, its bleach. I just have a 5 gal bucket with a tight fitting lid (one for making wine) and I keep reusing it, probably get a years worth of cleaning for 15 bucks

Steve

can u use vinegar to clean powerheads with hair algae growing on it, and how much ratio don't want to eat any seals or rubber.???

Good ol' Vinegar....no longer just for my fries!

I also use a 10 to 1 ratio, but might start going with more potent mixes as well. I'm very impatient

guess somethings wrong in my tank as never find a build-up when I pull my pumps apart other than a thin slime coating.