Vinegar = My Best Friend

[Bonsai]

My new sub-hobby: buying super-cheap used equipment that looks horrific in the sellers photos, and restoring to like-new condition

 

Today's deal - I bought TWO (2) Koralia 1's for $15

 

Seller's Photo

 

After Photo

 

One hour vinegar bath plus gentle toothbrushing = like new.

[Psysicist]

Awesome job. Vinegar does all that? Is vinegar aquarium safe?

[seabass]

I don't know why people don't clean stuff up themselves. We have a LFS that offers used equipment that looks really poor.

[masterbuilder]

I don't know why people don't clean stuff up themselves.

 

Me either. I see stuff for sale, even HERE that looks just awful. You would expect the seller to at least wipe the salt spray off before they post a picture. Even if it doesn’t get you a higher price, at least you won’t look like such a disgusting looser.

 

Nice score

[Trolldoll]

becuse they are lazy or lost complete intrest in the hobby.

[lakshwadeep]

+1 to people not taking enough time to clean their pumps that they're selling. While I didn't complain about it, the pumps I bought from a classifieds ad here had dried hair algae and tons of vermetid snail shells clogging the inlets.

 

Vinegar is safe for aquariums, but you should rinse it off (vinegar has acetic acid).

[pismo_reefer]

nice cleaning job!

 

 

 

what a sweet deal!

[TheChosenOne]

Ha.. Those actually look Better than new ones.

[Sushi]

Loving it

 

Thrift at its finest!

 

Are you doing a mix of vinegar + water for your bath? What ratio are you using?

[seabass]

Straight (plain white distilled) vinegar will give you the quickest results. A 1:1 ratio with tap water is fine to use (the weaker it is, the longer it takes). You might still have to use a brush after it soaks a bit (I run the pumps to help clean them out). You can reuse the vinegar for cleaning more equipment (until the pH eventually becomes less acidic).

[Bonsai]

Straight (plain white distilled) vinegar will give you the quickest results.

 

You can reuse the vinegar for cleaning more equipment (until the pH eventually becomes less acidic).

 

^ Yeah - that

[travisurfer]

Very nice!

[glennr1978]

I'm quite the vinegar fan myself. If it weren't for vinegar, I would've NEVER been able to sell my skimmer. After a ~30 minute bath, it looked almost new again.

[systemtool]

It's also delicious on french fries! Go Vinegar!

[Marteen]

Straight (plain white distilled) vinegar will give you the quickest results. A 1:1 ratio with tap water is fine to use (the weaker it is, the longer it takes). You might still have to use a brush after it soaks a bit (I run the pumps to help clean them out). You can reuse the vinegar for cleaning more equipment (until the pH eventually becomes less acidic).

While a 100% vinegar solution is great for powerheads and other equipment I would still stick with a 1:1 ratio for cleaning up a tank. It means less rinsing once you are done.

[Bonsai]

While a 100% vinegar solution is great for powerheads and other equipment I would still stick with a 1:1 ratio for cleaning up a tank. It means less rinsing once you are done.

 

I agree with you on that. After the powerheads get an hour long vinegar bath, I put them in a bucket of tap water and run them for 15 minutes or so, then as a final precaution, I run them under the faucet with heavy water flow to make sure all of the vinegar is cleaned off.

 

[seabass]

It's also delicious on french fries! Go Vinegar!

That reminds me of Jim Gaffigan's ketchup routine.

[AZDesertRat]

Vinegar doesn't even require rinsing, it leaves no residue and is water soluble. I use it straight, its only like $1.50 a gallon and best of all can be reused, I strain it through a paint filter and stick it back in the bottle so it can be used over and over until the pH is no longer low enough to do any good. Thats my "Green" tip for the day!

[Marteen]

Vinegar doesn't even require rinsing, it leaves no residue and is water soluble. I use it straight, its only like $1.50 a gallon and best of all can be reused, I strain it through a paint filter and stick it back in the bottle so it can be used over and over until the pH is no longer low enough to do any good. Thats my "Green" tip for the day!

 

Vinegar will raise the pH of your water so I would rinse it out if you are using it to clean up a tank before you fill it with water. If you were to clean equipment and not rinse it before putting it back in the tank you could raise your pH to dangerous levels with enough vinegar.

[Sushi]

Vinegar will raise the pH of your water so I would rinse it out if you are using it to clean up a tank before you fill it with water. If you were to clean equipment and not rinse it before putting it back in the tank you could raise your pH to dangerous levels with enough vinegar.

 

I believe you meant to say "drop" the pH of your water. The pH of vinegar is around 2.4.

[AZDesertRat]

Correct, vinegar lowers pH but it takes a lot and many reefers actually dose it for pH adjustement. No problems. Dump it out, give it a quick rinse if you feel better and stick it back in the tank, no worries.