How do I maintain cleanliness?

[murali]

Hi again with another basic/newbie question.

Right now I seem to dump stuff I've just used into my laundry sink. For example, at this moment there is a sump pump, some hose, and a siphon.

Now at some point, tomorrow at the latest, all of that stuff is going to again either be in a tank or in my water barrel. Part of my mind is yelling "Stupid, this is not good practice."

Is what I am doing a danger. If yes, what is the way to keep tank items relatively clean and safe.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Murali

[Carol_Roberts]

No, it is not good to get soap or bleach on the equipment used in your fish tank. Rinse carefully to be safe.

I have several buckets of different sizes to store my hoses and equipment in.
Carol :heart1:

[murali]

Thanks Carol.

So other than a rinse, you don't do anything else to your equipment? How about if say the vacuum tube has just be used in the q-tank?

Thanks,
Murali

[Carol_Roberts]

I have a seperate vacume tube and hose just for the Q-tank. Wash and dry your hands between Q-tank and regular tanks too.

Carol :heart1:

[daninthesand]

Murali

You have to think of your fish room and tanks as a laboratory in the sense of keeping the worksite as clean as possible. In other words think about a dirty area and a clean area. The sink is definiteiy a dirty area. For a qtine tank thinkof it as a tank full of disease that could infect your entire fish collection.

I don't mean to make anyone paranoid, and I certainly am not in my own fish room, but you need to use your intuition. And your questions reveal that your intuiton is working in your favour. ;)

I would recommend you use a seperate siphon hose for the qtine tank. Use it for nothing else. I like to place a hook on the wall to hang the hose. Keeps it off the floor or otherwise ending up in the sink where it can contaminate other stuff, or get contaminated by other stuff. Likewise any nets, filters, fill hoses and all that stuff should be kept seperated from the rest of the fish room as possible. Consider your qtine tank as a "dirty" area as well as your sink or any place else that gets water dumped into it from who knows where.

I have also used either bleach or Potasssium permangenate in a bucket to soak things like heaters, nets, air diffusers, thermometers, anything that I might use in more than one tank. It sits in this bucket until I need it. When I use it I just rinse it out really well, in the sink. I have a spray hose attached to my sink faucet that allows me to rinse things out without letting it touch the sink.

I hope you get the idea.

Have fun. Remember its a hobby. You need to enjoy it too!

Daniel

[murali]

Hi Daniel,

I could look for a month of Sundays in all the discus books from Amazon.com and I doubt I would find one with paragraphs of such practical information.

Thank you!

This is what makes SimplyDiscus so great.

Murali

[murali]

Hi Carol,

Just that tip alone about washing and drying hands may have saved some discus.

Thanks,
Murali

[daninthesand]

Your welcome. :D

I learned most of what I know about discus from other people and this forum. It's all part of the fun of discus keeping. I used to keep discus a long time ago and found it a real pain. Now with what I've learned here and elswhere it almost seems easy. Eventually you will settle into a routine that works for you.

Enjoy.

Daniel

Murali:I wash and clean everything in the fish tank including the fish. go ahead and laugh. that's the way I do it. you know how I do it. I hire a cheap labour 12" common pleco in the tank with everything including the fish in there. He will be so busy cleaning every corner and heater, sponge filter and forget about the discus, After 8 hours of work. I remove the Pleco and siphoned all the crap excreted by the pleco and disinfect the tank including the fish with PP. neutralize the pp with H2O2. Vacuum the dead gill worms and debris from the bottom of the tank and replace the water. The equipment in the tank and the fish are as good as new. Sparkling clean water and free of germs and worms. I never take things out of the tank and clean it in my laundry sink. If you put a couple of bristlenoses in there. there's no need to do any cleaning at all. just wipe off the water line on the glass once in every 2 weeks. Didn't you get a couple from me already?.
Jimmy.

[murali]

Hi Jimmy,

Yes, you gave me a couple of real ugly ones; but, given what you have said, I now have respect for them.

Kind regards,
Murali

[nalah]

Jimmy,
you mention bristle nose to clean.... i have some in - mine must be lazy then because they dont do any house cleaning at all. All they do is eat,sleep and http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/d0/sex.gif