I know many if not all of us use a turkey baster in our tanks in some fashion. Whether it be to blow detrious off of rocks, or to spot feed, or to blast an aptasia with kalk, you’ve probably got a turkey baster within 6’ of your tank.
Have you ever cleaned it?
I hadn’t. And I’ve been using the same turkey baster for probably 4 years. It wsn’t laziness, it was just over-sight. I never even THOUGHT about cleaning it.
Well 2 nights ago I had to use it to blast a large aptasia in my wife’s tank with kalk (don’t ask how it go there I have NO idea). I guess I made the paste a little thick becuase it dried inside the turkey baster and needed to be cleaned out (for what it’s worth it’s still sitting in a pile in the wife’s tank too) before I could use it to spot feed some corals.
I deicded it was taking too long just sucking water up in it and squeezing it back out, so I took the bulb off the back so I could run hot water down through the tube. Lemme tell you - it smelled an awful lot like my skimmer cup.
There was mold growing on the inside of the bulb and it was just nasty.
I soaked mine in boiling water and it came clean but I think I’ll swing by the dollar store tonight to get a new one all the same :~S
I rinse mine out every time I use it in my salt water tank. Take it apart and put it back together again once it dries out. Just the fact that salt water deteriorate rubber thats way I rinse it. I too have mine for many years and I think it one of those great tool for a reef tank and I’m sure FO or FOWRL tank as well.
Yes i clean mine fairly regularly. I use my basters for feeding brine shrimp, and dusting rock and whatever in the tanks. Yes, the bulb is a major petri dish for growing just about everything microbe, slime and fungus. we slosh dirty, live tank water, and fish food up into it. it stays warm and damp and can grow stuff like crazy. and then we inject it into the tank every time we use it.
I rinse mine in bleach every month or so and use a test tube size bottle brush to scrub the oils and slime off the inside of the tube also. wash and rinse.
The big question is, how often do you clean the protien skimmer? they get lots of slime, and tube worms and sponges growing inside. that slows flow and reduces the skimmer efficiency. i clean mine in bleach and acetic acid about twice a year when I’m good. pumps included.
The baster bulb wears out in time, and after a few cleanings might crack. so they are best replaced once a year . The Dollar store is your friend. Uhhh… You didn’t lick the inside of the bulb to see what was in it, Did you?
I always clean anything I put into my tank and remove. mostly when I use it to spot feed though… would not want to give the corals some stale phytoplankton or manderin stale cyclops… do you eat stale bread? >LOL<