Cleaning Lily Pipes

[tlombardo]

Hey I have a pipe brush that does a good job with 90% of the pipes but the very end/bottom of the intake pipe never gets completely clean even when I push the brush all they way down. It gets pretty clean but I've found that the algae grows back much faster when there is some remaining after the cleaning so I end up having to do it more often than if I could clean it completely each time. I don't really get much algae growth anywhere else in the tank.

 

I was wondering (assuming I can't brush the end clean) if I there is something I could dip it in for a few minutes during a water change that would get it clean. Obviously this dipping solution wouldn't be tank friendly so I would like to know the precautions to take for rinsing afterwards. Don't want to crash the tank just trying to get that last bit of algae!

 

Thanks!

 

Tony

[evilc66]

Peroxide

[tlombardo]

Peroxide

 

Guess I should have guessed this with how well it seems to work even in the tank. Thanks!

[Smithjm5]

I have the same problem but have never found anything to work, I've tried peroxide, vinegar, boiling water and none of them get it all out. Good luck!

[Tamberav]

I have used bleach on nasty unreachable algae/buildup that vinegar won't touch. Then I just rinse the hell out of it. Can use some prime to neutralize bleach as well.

[evilc66]

If you want to go all out nuclear on it, just use hydrochloric acid (also known as muriatic acid). There won't be anything organic left.

[xiaoxiy]

I usually soak the lily pipes in vinegar for about 30 minutes, wrap a piece of paper towel wrap around a rare earth magnet (one of those really small ones) and use it as a mag-cleaner for my lily pipes! Gets them real clean.

[PatrickO]

I soak them in water with some bleach. Last time I let them go 5 months on my freshwater tank without cleaning so it took overnight but they came out perfect.