Cleaning Heads/Pipes/Impeller

[lefkonj]

Its been almost 7 months since my tank has been up and i need to really get the Vortech heads and the lock-line cleaned up and free of stuff.

I have heard the vinegar bath, tooth brush, and other suggestions but nothing with any real detail. How do most people clean these components and how often.

Thanks

 

[Edwardw771]

I use Muriatic Acid works way better then vinegar. just be carefull and use a lot of water.

 

[falconut]

I used to use a brush, but it would scratch some of the items. I've switched to just soaking in vinegar. I pour some vinegar then some water in a container and soak the items for a while. If the junk wipes off, it's good. If not, I let it soak longer. Never tried muriatic acid.

 

[mnat]

If it is just some algae and gunk then vinegar will work just fine. If it is really stubborn then you can look at magic clean from hydor or muriatic. I find with Vortechs that vinegar is just fine and you probably don't want to go too much more than that.

 

[lefkonj]

is it literally vinegar or vinegar and water? Just want to make sure i do this correctly. I was going to do a vinegar bath then rinse with water to wash it all away then place it back in the tank.

Thanks

 

[downbeach]

I usually take my PH's and/or pumps and run them in a solution of 50/50 vinegar and water and throw in other pieces I want to clean. If you have some pieces that are really stubborn to clean you can increase the strength to 100% vinegar. The movement of the water will clean most of it off with enough time.

 

[lefkonj]

Thanks Jim going to do this tomorrow as part of my maintenance with a water change.

 

[lefkonj]

Thanks for everyone's input. I just completed the vinegar/water bath on my Vortech heads and what a difference this made. While I couldn't remove all the coraline, it did clean the impeller and all sorts of gunk off the piece. What a difference. Next time I will take turns running my pumps through a solution like this for a few minutes to clean them out.

How often to people usually do this, just curious.

 

[mnat]

Depends really on the pump and how much gunk is on it. If we have an algae outbreak or something along those lines maybe once a month. For normal maintenance probably one a quarter.