# So I have soaked my decorations in bleach...now what?



## arenaranger (Jun 5, 2011)

Hello,

I have soaked two of my artificial plant in a bleach mixture about 1 part bleach to 10 parts hot water. They have never been cleaned in three years
And have come up really really good. I never have really had an algae problem but the plants were getting to the point that they were looking grungy. 

After I removed them from the bleach mixture I rinsed the heck out of them for like five minutes under the tap with hot water. I now have them sitting in an bucket of fresh hot water with two capfuls of prime mixed in. That is a pretty heavy mixture of prime. I have read a bit about making sure that you can't smell the bleach on the plants but my hands and even the house smell like bleach right now so it is hard to tell if they smell like it or not.

How do you know when it is o.k. to remove the plants and place them back into the aquarium? Will the prime remove any trace of bleach and neutralize it?

Thanks for the help as always.


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## chenowethpm (Jan 8, 2014)

You should be good by now after all you have done


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## arenaranger (Jun 5, 2011)

Thanks for your help. 

I am just wondering, is there generally a timeframe for letting the plants soak in the freshwater with prime added to it. 

What does the prime do to the bleach?


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## chenowethpm (Jan 8, 2014)

I let mine soak for a couple hours but it's probably overkill, the prime neutralizes the chlorine in the bleach.


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## arenaranger (Jun 5, 2011)

Is there anything else in the bleach to be concerned about after the prime neutralizes the chlorine?

Sorry for the questions.


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## chenowethpm (Jan 8, 2014)

Depends on your bleach maybe, but rinsing after the bleach soak removes most of the bleach, the prime soak is for extra precaution.


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## chenowethpm (Jan 8, 2014)

Common household bleach I mad of sodium hypochlorite and water.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

....now what?

Throw them all out! Get some plants and driftwood and achieve a more natural look.

Just a thought. Once you do it you will never want anything different - guaranteed!


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## chenowethpm (Jan 8, 2014)

jrman83 said:


> ....now what?
> 
> Throw them all out! Get some plants and driftwood and achieve a more natural look.
> 
> Just a thought. Once you do it you will never want anything different - guaranteed!


He's right, once you go live you won't want to do anything else!


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## arenaranger (Jun 5, 2011)

The bleach that was used is just regular Clorox.

I keep thinking about live plants but at this point they just don't really interest me. Maybe in the future......


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## jccaclimber2 (May 6, 2012)

For the OP question:
I occasionally bleach dip plants for various reasons (20:1, 20-30 seconds). I then move them to a bucket with a strong dechlor solution. You know that you have dechlorinated everything when your hands stop smelling like bleach. It's actually very quick, they'll go from strong bleach smell to a mild aquarium smell almost instantly. If you've ever made roux you know what I mean about the strange and sudden change.
Agreeing with everyone else:
If you fish allow it live plants are 10x nicer than plastic ones. I grew up on plastic plants, I even strongly resisted when a relative's boyfriend made me convert to live plants one day. He told me I could put the plastic ones back in in a week if I wanted....I didn't, and that was over 10 years ago.


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## arenaranger (Jun 5, 2011)

Ok, so I have removed the plants from the fresh water with the heavy dose of prime in it to neutralize the bleach and then completely dried the the plants using a hairdryer. I am ready to put them back into the aquarium but one of the plants still has a very mild odor of bleach while the other does not. They were both in the fresh water with prime for the same period of time. 

Is it ok to add the plants back into the aquarium with that slight smell of bleach on the one plant? I should also point out that the plant that has the odor has gone somewhat whitish when it is dry. It looks perfect when it is wet. 

Please advise with your thoughts.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

You could let them dry if you want, but the smell usually stays.


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## arenaranger (Jun 5, 2011)

So in other words jrman,

You would put the plants back in at this point? Doesn't the smell sort of mean that bleach is still there?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

No, just means the smell remains. My whites still smell like bleach when I move from washer to dryer, but I know they have been through a pretty thorough rinse cycle and the bleach is no longer in the clothes.


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## jccaclimber2 (May 6, 2012)

If you aren't comfortable do one more soak in water with overdosed Prime. If it doesn't change it's probably fine.


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## arenaranger (Jun 5, 2011)

Thanks to everyone who chimed in. Based on the advice I got here, I decided to soak them again in 5 gallons of fresh hot water and two capfuls of prime. When I woke up this morning, I took plants out f bucket and completely dried them again using the hairdryer, and after they were completely dry I could not smell even a trace of bleach. I have put the plants back in the tank and everything seems great.

Thank you very much everyone for assisting. I have now realized that you can and will get every noticeable trace of bleach smell off of the plants if you give it time.


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## T Fades (Sep 8, 2009)

Don't mean to threadjack, but what about white vinegar?

I recently dumped a gallon of white vinegar in my 80 and let it run for a couple days (no fish of course) as I am starting over and wanted to easily clean all driftwood and large softball sized rocks. 

I completely emptied the tank and rinsed the driftwood and rocks in tap water. Now everything is dry and I can slighly smell vinegar still. 

Should I continue to rinse the driftwood and rocks until can't smell any vinegar, did I ruin my driftwood, or is a slight smell ok as I would think it would be diluted once back in the 80 tank with new clean water?


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