Tank and plant disinfection

[SLEngst]

I've had a bad outbreak of a virus (likely) or bacteria (less likely) which
killed several more sensitive fish. I need to disinfect one tank and gravel.
An australian source mentions 200 mg/L of 65% calcium hypochlorite. However I
wouldn't even know where to get that. Regular clorox (Na hypochlorite) is 6%.
What dilution rate would I need to assure I've cleaned the tank - and for how
long? The australian recipe is 200 mg/L for 1 hr or 100 mg/L for 24 hrs. I
suppose the simple solution would be 10 times as much as clorox is 10 times
weaker???

Can the plants be bleached (1:19 dilution given on the KRIB) and be clear of
virus or bacteria or do they need to be destroyed?

Thanks so much for any help you can provide,

Sharon

[Benjamin Munsch]

You have to take into account that Na Hypochlorite contains only half as
much Hypochlorite per Molecule as Ca Hypochlorite, since Na is only 1+, Ca
is 2+. But since NaClO is almost exactly half as heavy as CaClO, this is
countered out again. By my calculation, you'd need 2256 mg/l of your
chlorox. By the way, I'm not familiar with chlorox, is that a cleaning
agent? If so, it will also contain Chlorite, ClO2, and other cleaning agents
and I wouldn't advise you to use it. If it's only Na Hypochlorite and water,
it should work (at least to kill your germs, I don't know if it's dangerous
to the plants and/or future fishes).

"SLEngst" > wrote:
> An australian source mentions 200 mg/L of 65% calcium hypochlorite.
However I
> wouldn't even know where to get that. Regular clorox (Na hypochlorite) is
6%.
> What dilution rate would I need to assure I've cleaned the tank - and for
how
> long? The australian recipe is 200 mg/L for 1 hr or 100 mg/L for 24 hrs.
I
> suppose the simple solution would be 10 times as much as clorox is 10
times
> weaker???

[Robert Flory]

"Benjamin Munsch" > wrote in message
...

SNIP
> By the way, I'm not familiar with chlorox, is that a cleaning
> agent? If so, it will also contain Chlorite, ClO2, and other cleaning
agents
> and I wouldn't advise you to use it. If it's only Na Hypochlorite and
water,
> it should work (at least to kill your germs, I don't know if it's
dangerous
> to the plants and/or future fishes).
>
Clorox is a US brand name, for bleach. About 7.5% Sodium hypochlorite I
think.

Bob