[ShaneSmith]

Well i messed up the tank pretty bad. SO i am cleaning everything out. How do you clean long tubes that the bottle brush cannot reach? I gotta get this thing ready for some plants i got coming in.

 

[gnatster]

I've cleaned those tubes by running fishing line thru the tube, tying to end of bottle brush and pulling it thru.

 

[discusdave]

I straighten out a coat hanger, then make a small loop on one end with needle nose pliers. Hook the looped end of the brush around the hanger and crimp the hanger loop. Make a 90 degree bend in the other end of the hanger wite. Now you can turn the brush and pull it back and forth in those long tubing runs. I've cleaned my Eheim cannister tubing this way for years.

Dave

 

[Cavan Allen]

I just pinch the hoses while the filter is running. That may not get rid of 100% of the stuff, but it's pretty close.

 

[JanS]

Well, if I'm really in a bind I could always steal some of the Mr's clean unused gun cleaning rods :roll: , but otherwise the 48" flexi-brush works great for most applications.

 

[bharada]

Get a sufficiently long piece of string (butcher's twine). Tie a wieght to one end (nut, bolt, nail, whatever...). Tie a small patch of cloth to the other end. Drop the weighted end through the tube and pull the cloth patch through.

Most of the crud that builds up in the tube won't require much effort to wipe off. For algae, soak the tube in a 5-10% bleach solution first, then run the patch through.

 

[ShaneSmith]

Thank you for all the good ideas