General Care Discussion :: instead of bleach, can I use...

[laurapa]

In our house we use a spritz of white vinegar followed by a spritz of hydrogen peroxide to disinfect the surfaces in our kitchen and bathroom, along with our fruits and vegetables. This mixture sits on the surface until it dries (or for about 5 minutes) and then we rinse.

Vinegar and peroxide together disinfect as well as bleach, killing almost 100% of salmonella, e. coli, etc. So my question is not whether or not this will disinfect. Studies have shown!

I also think this would be safer for my turtle, since both the peroxide and vinegar are already significantly diluted in their commercial forms. Then after a good rinse, I think all traces would be gone.

My question is whether or not the plastic in my stock tank and filter hose would be OK with this method. I just want to make sure there's not some sort of strange sensitivity that these plastics have. I don't want to affect the integrity of the plastic.

I would also like to spray it in my pond pump mechanism, which is pretty scummy. Would that damage any moving parts?

[laurapa]

Oh, I forgot to mention that after 5 months it's time for a complete water change and cleaning of my turtle's stock tank. It's very nasty in there. So this disinfecting business is not something I'm planning on doing all the time. Twice a year, max.

[zoologist]

i would use vinegar over bleach any day.

[marisa]

Why both? If your turtle has been healthy, I would think cleaning well with just the vinegar would do the trick (it is mildly disinfecting in and of itself). I can see really disinfecting in the household, where multiple people use the same objects), but if it's just a healthy turtle in the tank...

For a sick turtle, I'd actually use a weak solution of bleach.