# Sterilizing a Sponge Filter?



## Little Soprano (Mar 13, 2014)

Once this batch of fish is gone (24 leaving this weekend - will only have 12 left), I want to sterilize the 75g they were in. The tank itself will be easy as it’s barebottom but I’d like to sterilize the sponge filter as well to ensure whatever it was that I initially treated the tank for, is gone. 

Will letting it fully dry out suffice? Or maybe even just soaking it in H2O2? I will be using some good old vinegar on the tank and then letting it dry out, but with the porosity of the sponge filter I don’t want to utilize anything that may stick around beyond what I can rinse out.

Trying to ensure the tank as a whole is as sterile as can be prior to the new batch of fry utilizing it to grow out in.


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## reddhawkk (Dec 28, 2011)

Microwave????


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

The most common way to sterilize things like water and equipment, is bleach. It's what's in lots of our drinking water, so it fits what I want but for sponge, we need to go at a low level that is just above what tap water has at a maximum of 10 PPM. I find it is often a debate about whether to work with the existing or simply replace and that gets into what it costs to replace versus the trouble but I find the easy way to go is to set the tank and use a light bleach soak on the whole setup, tank, filters and decor all at once and then drain and rinse the whole as one simple process. 
Since tap water is no different than bleach soak other than the dilution, it is silly to say there is "something" in bleach which we can't deal with if we use some thought. 
In a 75, for a light soak, I use about a half or quarter cup of standard 6% bleach in a full tank. Just use the cheap, no color, no scent, stuff as we don't need any "wild cards" from added items. When the smells gone, the chlorine is gone.


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

As Rich has said bleach is OK. 
I started using peroxide most if the time for my sponges lately however. I've just found that the bleach seems to make the sponges deteriorate faster while I haven't seen that with the H2O2. I use the peroxide without dilution. It's only 3% anyway. 

Still use the bleach for disinfecting a lot of other things though.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

When and how to use many things is going to be a"guessimate" at best and whether to use bleach or peroxide is one of those decisions as they are both chemicals that react with organics and will do the job we want when we want to kill lots of those known and unknown things in our tanks. They both work pretty much the same way and we might also use several other things like bromine but these two are much easier and cheaper to find and handle as they are so common. 
The main difference that I see is that chlorine bleach that comes in the normal 6% solution with 94 % water is stronger than peroxide at 3% and 97% water. So it can get down to which we feel better about and how strong we want to go. For squirting directly on algae in the tank, with fish present, I go with the peroxide as I don't want it very strong but when I'm dealing with cleaning a tank and no fish, the bleach is a much cheaper way to go and I can control how strong by adding more or less water as I feel the situation requires. If I have a sponge that might be hard to replace, I would go peroxide but if I'm dealing with an empty tank that had a dead pleco laying in the corner, I go for a really strong bleach soak and hold my nose as I definitely want EVERYTHING cleaned! 
It just takes some time to get to know what fits best in any situation as they are both good at different times.


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