SUbmerging Powerhead in Vinegar OK?

[jimrawr]

To clean my powerhead, can I submerge it in vinegar for a few hours and then clean off the coraline?

[Blazer88]

I normally mix white vinegar with warm/hot water to clean my powerheads and have never had an issue.

[AllenFord_SC]

Yep, that's the best way to clean coraline off of anything.

[AZDesertRat]

Yep, I use straight white vinegar. I disassemble my pumps completely so it gets the area around the shaft and impeller. If its only a few hours or overnight its OK but if you leave rubber o rings or suction cups in vinegar for much longer than that it can damage them.

[The Saltwater Kid]

I do a 50/50 water and vinegar mix.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Do you guys just rinse them then or do you rinse, wipe down, rinse?

[drummereef]

I too use a solution of vinegar and water. Drop it in the bucket and let it run for 30 minutes and its good as new. :)

[The Saltwater Kid]

I totally disassemble the power head and soak in the water/vinegar overnight. In the morning I empty out the water/vinegar, rinse out the container it was in thoroughly and then fill it up with pure water and soak all the powerhead components in that for the day and at night I empty that out, wipe dry the powerhead pieces, reassemble and put them back in the tank.

[WaterKeeper]

As far as I have found powerheads that can be used in SW can be cleaned with vinegar. I usually limit that to about and hour or two as I'm also a little wary of ecthing the pump magnet and bearings. That may be over caution on my part. A couple of good rinses are all that is needed as small amounts of vinegar have no effect on one's tank if there is carryover.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

that's what i thought as that ishow i have done it, just wanted to make sure that i wasn't causing any undo stress to inhabitants without wiping down real well...Thank You

[rick s]

I've used 50/50 and straight vinegar. Full strength just works a little faster. I submerge them assembled and run them on and off. I let them soak for a couple hours.

The vinegar will loosen any coraline. It doesn't do anything for the green slime that builds up on the impeller, magnet, housing, etc., at least on my pumps. I take them apart after soaking and scrub that stuff off. Then, I simply rinse everything under running tap water and dry everything as best I can.