Splash-less bleach?

[tnc112105]

Bleach is hard to come by nowadays and I have a whole slew of dirty filter socks.

I have "splash-less bleach" at home, but no regular bleach. The active ingredients are sodium hypochlorite and sodium hydroxide, but do not list the inactive ingredients.

I suspect the only concern with the NaOH would be increasing pH right? Which should be fine if I rinse them well? Do you think it's ok to use splash-less bleach to clean filter socks?

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

Most people recommend not using Splash-less bleach but is all you have, I would make sure that I cleaned extra good with freshwater and prime and let them air dry.

 

[Malcontent]

You can buy calcium hypochlorite and make your own bleach. Check pool suppliers. It's also used for shocking wells.

 

[tnc112105]

All non-essential businesses closed in New York. I'm not sure if pool suppliers are essential or not, but worth looking into. Thank you.

Things are just starting to turn around in my reef after a long bout of STN, so maybe I'll just go sock-less for a while.

 

[Malcontent]

Hardware stores often carry pool supplies. Check the ingredients though as some include algaecides and other stuff you don't need or want.

Amazon has calcium hypochlorite and sodium hypochlorite, too.

 

[Mhart032]

Well. sodium Hydroxide ( AKA caustic Soda) is the base of bleach, the chlorine molecule is injected into the sodium hydroxide to create sodium hypochlorite (AKA bleach) My plant makes hundreds of thousand gallons a month that get delivered to Clorox, granted this is a 12.5% strength thats then diluted down to 3.5% to bottle and sell.

 

[dadnjesse]

liquid Pool shock is just bleach if you have a pool supply store, though they usually charge more.

 

[Icedog]

Well. sodium Hydroxide ( AKA caustic Soda) is the base of bleach, the chlorine molecule is injected into the sodium hydroxide to create sodium hypochlorite (AKA bleach) My plant makes hundreds of thousand gallons a month that get delivered to Clorox, granted this is a 12.5% strength thats then diluted down to 3.5% to bottle and sell.

Just logged onto this website with the same issue - lotsa dirty socks, very little bleach left on my shelf, and unable to find any in the stores!

Thanks to Malcontent's suggestion I was able to find some liquid chlorinizer in a local pool supply store. It's ingredients are as follows:

I thought I'd follow your info and dilute it down to 3.5%. But is that 3.5% by weight (as in the chart above) or by volume? I'm not sure if it will make a difference in the end, but I'd rather not take any chances!

Thanks for your help!

 

[Malcontent]

You could probably just dilute it 2:1 pool shock to water. Or just use 1/3 the amount.

 

[Icedog]

You could probably just dilute it 2:1 pool shock to water. Or just use 1/3 the amount.

I was thinking of diluting it one-in-three. That is, 1/3 cup of the liquid chlorinizer plus 2/3 cup of water. That should bring it down to about 3.5% by weight.

I'd hate to use anything stronger in my washing machine - don't know if it would cause any damage.

 

[Malcontent]

I was thinking of diluting it one-in-three. That is, 1/3 cup of the liquid chlorinizer plus 2/3 cup of water. That should bring it down to about 3.5% by weight.

That is a 2:1 dilution (two parts water to 1 part chlorine solution).

Household bleach seems to be 5-8% though.

 

[homer1475]

Guy in NY, you do realize lowes and HD carry bleach? Although wally world and other supermarkets were out of stock, lowes and HD both had stocked shelves.

Grabbed 4 bottles of bleach when I was there the other day.

 

[SandJ]

Check the shelves next to the bleach for bleach tablets. Some stores sell a little bottle of tables that you dissolve in water. People may not know what it is and maybe some were overlooked and not bought up like the regular bleach.

 

[Icedog]

That is a 2:1 dilution (two parts water to 1 part chlorine solution).

Household bleach seems to be 5-8% though.

Your original response said to "dilute it 2:1 pool shock to water". That is, two parts pool shock to one part water - that didn't make sense. So I was clarifying it by using words ("one-in-three") and a specific example. Also, dilution ratios are generally expressed in a solute:solvent format - the dilution is 1:2, not 2:1.

You're right though about the concentration of bleach - seems to be about 5-8%. Still hoping to hear back from Mhart032 with his take on that.

 

[tnc112105]

Hi homer1475, I haven’t been into HD in a while. Will check it out. In the meantime, I am using these with some filter fiber I ordered from Petco which seems to be doing the trick.

4" Filter Media Cup

Run Carbon GFO or any other media in the Red Sea Filter Media Cup. Pack the Red Sea Filter Media Cup with filter floss, ceramic media, carbon, gfo, or any other media you want. The slots at the bottom half of the cup force water to flow down through your media before it can freely exit. With the...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[MnFish1]

Bleach is hard to come by nowadays and I have a whole slew of dirty filter socks.

I have "splash-less bleach" at home, but no regular bleach. The active ingredients are sodium hypochlorite and sodium hydroxide, but do not list the inactive ingredients.

I suspect the only concern with the NaOH would be increasing pH right? Which should be fine if I rinse them well? Do you think it's ok to use splash-less bleach to clean filter socks?

NO - its never ok - dont use it. its the inactive ingredients that are the problem

 

[MnFish1]

Also - agree with the people recommending pool shock - Just started up our pool- the liquid chlorine is much cheaper than the 'powder' (for some unclear reason) - get the liquid sodium hypochlorite - ask the pool store - what the concentration is - compared to bleach - Frankly - bleach is too concentrated. I hope you find something - based on numerous threads - Splashless bleach is NOT a good idea

 

[MnFish1]

All non-essential businesses closed in New York. I'm not sure if pool suppliers are essential or not, but worth looking into. Thank you.

Things are just starting to turn around in my reef after a long bout of STN, so maybe I'll just go sock-less for a while.

In New York-pool suppliers are probably essential - you can also order online

 

[jda]

I wash my socks in the washing machine with regular laundry soap. I turn them inside out. This is no issue. You can also just wash them in hot water with no soap or bleach... they get plenty clean.