Vinegar?

[aeri]

What does vinegar do in cleaning aquarium related equipment and what type of vinegar should be used?

 

[Ianab]

Vinegar is just acetic acid, it's safe and useful for cleaning because when it's concentrated it will kill most micro-organisms, but once it's dilute it's pretty harmless. Thats why it's used for making pickles are things. Worst thing a few leftover drops will do in the tank is drop your pH a fraction.

Best sort to use, the cheapest. You aren't worried about the flavour or whether it's made from rice or apples.

Cheers

Ian

 

[midnight]

theres some info in this thread when i used it on glass.
but i switched to a better smelling thing.lol
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108191

lol ian we posted at the same time

 

[ziggy2]

Just get the cheapest you can find. It all works the same.

 

[stevelamby]

Vinegar is just acetic acid, it's safe and useful for cleaning because when it's concentrated it will kill most micro-organisms, but once it's dilute it's pretty harmless. Thats why it's used for making pickles are things. Worst thing a few leftover drops will do in the tank is drop your pH a fraction.

Best sort to use, the cheapest. You aren't worried about the flavour or whether it's made from rice or apples.

Cheers

Ian

^^Great answer. I have always used vinegar to clean out my old tanks, or used ones that I purchase and it does a great job.

 

[brcacti]

I saw on a food site, if I remember right regular vinegar is slightly acid while apple cider vinegar is neutral or slightly alkaline.

 

[Ianab]

I saw on a food site, if I remember right regular vinegar is slightly acid while apple cider vinegar is neutral or slightly alkaline.

Nope.. if it's vinegar it's acidic. Acetic ACID. It should have a pH of around 2.4, but that may vary with how stong the vinegar is. It's all down around that range though.

It's possible they were talking about some less concentrated vinegar being less acidic, but it cant be neutral pH and still be vinegar

Cheers

Ian