eatyourpeas Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 Has anyone done that? Any tips? I am thinking about shaving a bit of the surface with my Dremel instead of chemical cleaning with H2O2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasaltemelosguy Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 Hi, if you have a jewelry cleaner of any size or power, fill the tub with peroxide and run it for 5-15 minutes. The airstone will be like it's new. The ultrasound drives the peroxide into the stone, loosening the organics, and then it's forced back out by the ultrasound. It takes forever in plain water but in peroxide, it's a 15-minute session. It's very effective but if you leave it for too long, it'll dissolve the airstone! So given the variations in jewelry cleaners and their power, I'd check on the stone say, every 5 minutes to make sure it's not starting to dissolve. I have some of those 12" long air stones that inevitably clog at the far end. A dip of the bad end in this for a few minutes' evens out the flow. It works even better if you fill the tub with alcohol. But 91% alcohol is flammable, so I'd stay at 70% or less for this. With alcohol as the solution, it's VERY fast so watch the stone doesn't dissolve. With my 19-watt jewelry cleaner, it takes 15 minutes to completely renew an airstone in peroxide and 5 minutes (or less) in alcohol. Given ultrasound can ignite flammable fluids, I can wait for the peroxide! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eatyourpeas Posted March 2, 2022 Author Share Posted March 2, 2022 On 3/2/2022 at 11:47 AM, dasaltemelosguy said: Hi, if you have a jewelry cleaner of any size or power, fill the tub with peroxide and run it for 5-15 minutes. The airstone will be like it's new. Thanks for the advice. However, I do not have an ultrasound cleaner (don't wear jewelry, don't like it) so that won't work. 🙃 I will try the peroxide if the Dremel brush is not able to loosen the gunk. It has been running for seven months, so it is due for a clean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eatyourpeas Posted March 11, 2022 Author Share Posted March 11, 2022 Ended up cleaning the block with a metal brush and then running it through H2O2 to clean the gunk off. And very gunky it was! 💩💩💩 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlyGenusCaps Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 Just saw this. Glad the peroxide and brush worked! Not sure if this will work with your type of airstone, but compressed air can unclog them too: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eatyourpeas Posted March 15, 2022 Author Share Posted March 15, 2022 These are all great suggestions. The airstone was not really clogged, just very gunky. It had been in for 8 months, so after cleaning it, half of the wood was gone. It still works, but it may be time to replace it at this point. I have a new one ready to put in if the bubbles falter. 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eatyourpeas Posted March 15, 2022 Author Share Posted March 15, 2022 (edited) This is what was left of the airstone, but it is clean: I think this is what @dasaltemelosguy was referring to with regards to dissolving the airstone. 🤪 Edited March 15, 2022 by eatyourpeas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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