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How to clean air stones?

FinestKind

FinestKind

Member
While I understand (fully) the reasoning behind the use of muriatic acid, bleach, etc. in cleaning these things, I do worry about the effects on the microorganisms that we are trying to propagate in organic gardening... and I'm a lazy fuck on top of it all. :p I think I'm going to give Suby's idea a go... I may in the meantime (once the ones I have clog up) give one of these other techniques a try.... thanks all so much for the input, very informative (as always.... I don't think I've mentioned it lately, but I love ICMag!

FK
 
O

orf

New member
what about clr, the stuff you use to clean coffee pots,hard water stains ,shower heads. just a thought if you clean your coffee pot with it it shoudn't kill ya right?
 
SilverSurfer_OG

SilverSurfer_OG

Living Organic Soil...
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I can confirm EM1 does the job. 24 hours bubbling in plain water and a drop of the good stuff and the stones are clean and bubbling away like new! :yes:
 
Microbeman

Microbeman

The Logical Gardener
ICMag Donor
Veteran
The greatest point may be prevention. Always pull your airstones with air still running through them to prevent backflow. We use a scrub brush and hot water...peroxide if bad. The EM sounds like a fabulous idea. It would stain but would definitely eat up bioslime.
 
FinestKind

FinestKind

Member
Microbeman said:
The greatest point may be prevention. Always pull your airstones with air still running through them to prevent backflow. We use a scrub brush and hot water...peroxide if bad. The EM sounds like a fabulous idea. It would stain but would definitely eat up bioslime.
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I have started running the pumps until they are dry, have definitely noticed a difference.

I am going to do a side-by-side with air stones and the rock wool cubes; I figure if the pH rises at about the same rate, then the microbes are probably multiplying at the same rate, all else being equal. Does this sound logical?

FK
 
N

norichips

Member
the trick is to clean the airstone straight after you use it, put it in clean water and bubble for an hour, then rinse rinse rinse, sometimes i even blow as hard as i can with my mouth to try and force any other gunk from the inside to come out.

you can also get a sponge, cut a hole in it and put ur airstone inside the hole, this way the sponge will get the majority of gunk and your airstone will stay cleaner, its a little aquarium trick i used to do with filters and stones, imo the easiest way
 
C

carbonskeleton

Member
EatMoGrass said:
In the past I had used bleach to clean a stone per directions on an aquarium site. The stone had a very strong odor of chlorine that would not go away by rinsing or soaking it.

I was convinced it had a negative effect on my next batch of tea but I was never able to confirm it as I'm a small timer with no microscope.
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To aleive your fears if you waited more than 24 hours the bleach was likely already broken down into inactive ingredients.
 
FinestKind

FinestKind

Member
carbonskeleton said:
To aleive your fears if you waited more than 24 hours the bleach was likely already broken down into inactive ingredients.
Click to expand...

True... although I'm not sure that the salt residue breaks down to anything but salt- which is, of course, a gardener's bane. Of course, a simple rinsing after they dry should take care of that.

I'm not really sure that bleach is the answer, really- bleach sterilizes well, but I'm not sure that it de-gunks so well. I think MicrobeMan's "hot water and scrub brush" probably makes the most sense- and the cheapest!

FK
 
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