Clorox/Cloromax

Tomoko Schum

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Since many of us use Clorox for cleaning/disinfecting small tanks, containers, filter socks, and other aquarium equipment, I asked Clorox customer support about which Clorox is safe for our use. I periodically use Clorox to disinfect my small containers and started wondering about the new Clorox since I noticed that their Disinfecting Clorox with Cloromax suds up. They do not recommend using Clorox with Cloromax for any nonporous surface including silicone seals on our tanks. Below is what they said:

"The use of the Clorox Bleach with CloroMax for cleaning hard nonporous surfaces, such as the glass of a fish tank, will be fine as long as the product's directions for use are followed, including the rinse step. We only recommend using our bleach on the glass of the aquarium and not on any other equipment that would not be considered a hard non porous surface."

Then I asked about the silicone seal in fish tanks since some of us may wash tanks and air dry it afterward. I also asked them what other Clorox product we can use to disinfect our equipment. Below is what they told me.

"The silicone is not considered non porous, I do not have a product recommendation at this time. I would like to add, if someone still wanted to use bleach to clean their aquarium, we do have a bleach that can be purchased at stores like Staples and Home Depot called Germicidal Bleach Concentrate. This bleach does NOT have the Cloromax additive. Importantly though, this bleach has a higher percentage of sodium hypochlorite than our regular disinfecting bleach. The regular disinfecting bleach you would purchase at a Walmart or grocery store has a 7.55% and the Germicidal Bleach is 8.25%. This would be an important consideration for dilution ratio."

I hope this information helps to prevent any tank crash or livestock loss.
 

OfficeReefer

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Yes, store bleach is not the same as spa and pool bleach. I believe the SLAM or shock levels don't require the entire pool get to 7% levels but rather PPM. They make it confusing because of the CYA or conditioner/stabilizer used and temps can affect measurements but even the mustard shock levels are not this high either, if I recall.

In summary to clean your tank, rinse your tank regardless of the manufacturer of bleach. I would not add pure bleach to any tank, but only that mixed with RODI. My $0.02 on this topic.
 

JeffB418

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Since many of us use Clorox for cleaning/disinfecting small tanks, containers, filter socks, and other aquarium equipment, I asked Clorox customer support about which Clorox is safe for our use. I periodically use Clorox to disinfect my small containers and started wondering about the new Clorox since I noticed that their Disinfecting Clorox with Cloromax suds up. They do not recommend using Clorox with Cloromax for any nonporous surface including silicone seals on our tanks. Below is what they said:

"The use of the Clorox Bleach with CloroMax for cleaning hard nonporous surfaces, such as the glass of a fish tank, will be fine as long as the product's directions for use are followed, including the rinse step. We only recommend using our bleach on the glass of the aquarium and not on any other equipment that would not be considered a hard non porous surface."

Then I asked about the silicone seal in fish tanks since some of us may wash tanks and air dry it afterward. I also asked them what other Clorox product we can use to disinfect our equipment. Below is what they told me.

"The silicone is not considered non porous, I do not have a product recommendation at this time. I would like to add, if someone still wanted to use bleach to clean their aquarium, we do have a bleach that can be purchased at stores like Staples and Home Depot called Germicidal Bleach Concentrate. This bleach does NOT have the Cloromax additive. Importantly though, this bleach has a higher percentage of sodium hypochlorite than our regular disinfecting bleach. The regular disinfecting bleach you would purchase at a Walmart or grocery store has a 7.55% and the Germicidal Bleach is 8.25%. This would be an important consideration for dilution ratio."

I hope this information helps to prevent any tank crash or livestock loss.
The comment above about Germicidal Bleach not having Colormax isn't true anymore, the latest bottles of this I've seen at Lowes now does have CloroMax added and its on the label. Attach files
 
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Tomoko Schum

Tomoko Schum

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Clorox said "Germicidal Bleach Concentrate." They made the point of using "concentrated version." Is the one sold at Lowes the concentrated version used for hospital and office cleaning?
 

vetteguy53081

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Concentrated can be diluted and commercial use if I recall. When using bleach, cold water rinse which nuetralizes the agents until you can faintly or no longer smell the bleach
 
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Tomoko Schum

Tomoko Schum

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Yes, store bleach is not the same as spa and pool bleach. I believe the SLAM or shock levels don't require the entire pool get to 7% levels but rather PPM. They make it confusing because of the CYA or conditioner/stabilizer used and temps can affect measurements but even the mustard shock levels are not this high either, if I recall.

In summary to clean your tank, rinse your tank regardless of the manufacturer of bleach. I would not add pure bleach to any tank, but only that mixed with RODI. My $0.02 on this topic.
I thought a lot of people mix bleach with water (like 1 to 10 ratio) to clean tanks and air dried it to let chlorine evaporate. At least we used to do that in the old days. I am an old school hobbyist, but I usually use Prime to remove chlorine right away.
 

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That's correct @Tomoko Schum and I believe the concentrated version has the same as the non-concentrate minus scents, if I recall correctly. The one that doesn't have this is that pool and spa folks are as specific as fish and reef keepers. If you do this a lot, just purchase a SWGC which creates this from the salt itself.
 
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Tomoko Schum

Tomoko Schum

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Thanks. Their SDS on Cloromax ingredient has this clause:
"Ecotoxicity: May cause long lasting harmful effects to aquatic life."

This is unfortunate since some of us hobby fish breeders often relied on Clorox and bleach to sanitize their breeding/fry rearing tanks.
 

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