Bleach seems to work pretty fast

[CStrickland]

Hi chemists!

I was cleaning my filter socks today and I was wondering about how bleach works. I never noticed how fast they turned white. I tried reading about how bleach works but it got very boring and I'm not confident I can translate that general info to reef applications.

Heres my usual procedure: Remove sock after 2 days in use, rinse well in hot water and set aside; when I put on my last sock (I have 4 so this usually coincides with weekly water changes) I clean the dirty ones by scrubbing vigorously in hot water and then soaking in 10% bleach and cold water overnight; rinse well in hot water; rinse in cool water dosed with Prime; hang dry.

My question is whether there's a benefit to soaking for a long time, or at what point that benefit diminishes. Like, once the socks are white is the bleach done working, or has it turned the organics in the fabric white but it will continue to break them down if left longer? Is the color of the fabric a reliable indicator of how clean it is? Or is longer better?

Thanks in advance

 

[bertoni]

I think that the difference will be minimal. The rinsing should be removing the vast bulk of any detritus, and a bit of bleach will help loosen and remove anything that's left, as well as kill any bacteria on the netting. In theory, more bleach and a longer soak time will remove more organics, but I doubt that there's much difference in practice, since there's very little organic debris by volume left after a good soaking and rinsing. Mostly, the bleach likely is doing stain removal and some sterilization.

 

[JettStorm]

FWIW-I used to clean my rotifer buckets with bleach, rinse well and then light rinse with distilled vinegar and water. Never an ill effect and rotifers were always good to go. Don't know chemically what vinegar does after bleach but gave me peace of mind.

 

[C.Eymann]

Bleach works by oxidizing, the color "indicator" you speak of aka white filter socks means the job is done. I always soak them afterwards in a bucket of ro/do and prime overnight, one more rinse then air dry.
Good to go.

 

[disc1]

Yes, bleach oxidizes things and gets converted to salt and oxygen. That reaction happens pretty fast and then it's over with. When you soak for longer there's not really much happening after the first few minutes or even seconds.

As an aside, the cool thing about sodium hypochlorite like in bleach is that it is unstable when dry. So if you are worried at all about residual bleach on anything, just dry it really well. Once the water is gone, any sodium hypochlorite left turns to salt and oxygen and becomes harmless. Do note that the same can't be said for powdered bleach, calcium hypochlorite, which is quite stable when dry.

 

[CStrickland]

Wonderful, thank you all