Uses of Sodium Thiosulfate on Marine life and reef

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From Reef2reef.com      

 It's used to inactivate bleach. In short, first use 1-2 ml bleach per liter water to sanitize the culture media (water, salt, and f/2). After 12-24 hrs use sodium thiosulfate to make the water safe for phyto. Then we can add phyto for grow out.

I make a solution of 17 grams sodium thiosulfate in 500ml water. I have something like this:
Pool Dechlorinator Sodium Thiosulfate Pentahydrate 4 oz by Cesco Solutions - Premium Chlorine Neutralizer for Pools, Aquarium, Pond - Technical-Grade Chlorine Remover for Hot Tubs - Bulk Package Click here to buy

1ml of this solution will inactivate 4ml bleach. 

 From Reef2reef.com  

Righteous said:Are you saying this because of using Prime to neutralize the bleach? I do believe it neutralizes chlorine pretty effectively. Where they get into trouble is claiming it does all these other things as well.

Yes. Makes the skimmer go nuts for a while. Now I’m wondering if it’s the prime or bleach. 

 Try some sodium thiosulfate next time. It has to be magnitudes cheaper than Prime for dechlorination. 

I need to bleach a quarantine tank and turn it into a fresh clean hospital tank that has a nasty Uronema Parasite. I am following HumbleFish tank sterilization and reseeding protocol https://humble.fish/community/index.php?threads/sterilize-reseed-any-tank.938/

After raising the tanks chlorine to 100 ppm the remedy calls to run the tank for 48 hours to sterilize and to dissipate some of the chlorine out followed by a dosing of Sodium Thiosulfate to neutralize the balance of the chlorine.

The issue is the only Sodium Thiosulfate I could find was mixed with other products which are said to reduce metals and the % or concentration strength is not listed. Here is the listing of other chemicals Disodium EDTA, Sodium Carbonate Polyvinylpyrollidones.

However, the Aqueon Water Conditioner Bottle says add 5ml per 10 gallons of tank water to neutralize chlorine and metals found in typical tap water. I read somewhere that typical tap water is around 4ppm chlorine or less. So with 4ppm water at 40 gallons I would need 20ml of solution. For 100ppm tank chlorine / 4ppm typical tap water chlorine I would need 25 doses of 20ml of solution or 500ml of total solution. The bottle has 473 ml of solution so I would need to drop the whole bottle in. Apparently after another 48 hours after dosing Sodium Thiosulfate et all and 96 hours after initially dosing bleach, the water is claimed to be safe and conditioned for fish.

I have no idea how this works or if the Disodium EDTA, Sodium Carbonate Polyvinylpyrollidones also breaks down and or neutralize into something non-toxic to fish. However, I would like a review of my logic to see if this makes sence now as a solution to bleach, sterilize, neutralize chlorine toxicity and add new seed life back to the tank. Remember I am trying to use and save my tank water instead of completely trying to drain it out, drying it completely everywhere, flushing it and then refilling it to kill the Uronema Parasite.

Thank you,

Zag-

 Why not just buy sodium thiosulfate? Many places sell it, including amazon.

I would not want a lot of EDTA in the tank, if you can avoid it, as it will impact the bioavailability of trace elements. But if there is no alternative, it may not be a big problem. 

 The following can be used to sterilize a QT or even a DT:

1. Dose 100ppm chlorine as per this guide: https://dec.vermont.gov/sites/dec/files/dwgwp/DW/chlorinedosageemergencydisinfection.pdf OR Use this Chlorine Dilution Calculator provided by @Dierks: https://www.publichealthontario.ca/...th/water-quality/chlorine-dilution-calculator
2. Stir the sand and use a powerhead to blow inside any large rock to ensure the chlorinated water reaches every part of your tank.
3. Circulate well for 48 hours, and then use sodium thiosulfate to neutralize the chlorine in the water. Most pool places sell a product called Chlor Out which contains sodium thiosulfate and is safe to use. You can use this website to determine how much sodium thiosulfate to dose: https://www.edspumps.com/water-treatment/documents/Antichlorination.pdf
4. After you are all finished, your alkalinity might need to be raised. If so, use baking soda as per this calculator: http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html
5. Dose nitrifying bacteria (products tested here and here) for at least 1 week in order to reseed.

Drying in the sun will work. I prefer to soak in sodium thiosulfate after bleach treatment to make sure that the bleach is gone. Don't waste your money on expensive dechlorinators... 

People who are a little more concerned about maintaining pure cultures tend to use bleach to disinfect the water for a couple hours or more, then add sodium thiosulfate afterwards. This eliminates the worry of bacterial or other contaminants from tapwater or rodiwater. 

 I use 7% hydrogen peroxide on some, but run the really dirty ones in bleach through a washing machine, then soak in sodium thiosulfate. Jay

The aquaculture industry commonly uses powdered Chloram-X as an ammonia reducer, but Prime is pretty much the same thing and might be easier to pick up locally. Amquel or similar would also work...

As for sterilization of the water and vessel, sodium hypochlorite (bleach) followed by a neutralization with sodium thiosulfate is pretty common. If you're working with a much smaller volume you can also consider sterilizing with heat (throw it in the microwave). Here's a good link: https://thefishsite.com/articles/phytoplankton-culture-for-aquaculture-feed 

TroyClark said:I was thinking of using potassium permanganate to disinfect the qt tank and all equipment following quarantine.

Would that work?

Thanks

It might work, but potassium permanganate is not supposed to be used in SW, so you'd have to rinse everything off first. It can also stain some materials. It's only real application nowadays is in outdoor ponds. Since it has the same oxidizing activity as bleach or peroxide, I would just use them - and since peroxide is easiest to rinse out, that is always my choice, except for really large tanks, then I bite the bullet and go with bleach at 400 to 500 ppm. Afterwards, I rinse multiple times in FW, followed by a final fill with sodium thiosulfate (dechlor) and then drain and fill again.

Jay 

The best way, technically, is a bleach bath for ten minutes followed by a ten minute bath in a sodium thiosulfate solution. Although I know people will use vinegar or h202 solutions as well. 

 It's a pretty fast killer. Formalin is very good at killing it in a bath, freshwater just doesn't cut it a lot of the time. Fish getting sick is something a lot of people in the hobby struggle with, and I usually say to treat every single fish like it has every single disease. A lot of them do, I've never seen a wild fish that didn't come in with something. Even if your clown was captive bred it likely was housed with wild fish, and it takes a little bit of stress for a fish to succumb to a parasite or infection.

As for your equipment, you know the fallow period for the system, so that will die off in time. Some people will just dry equipment, some will use vinegar, the best thing to actually sterilize equipment is a bleach bath for ten minutes and a soak in sodium thiosulfate to neutralize. Or rinse as much as you can or use prime in water to neutralize. 

 I volunteer at a large public aquarium (bet you can guess which one) and we disinfect buckets, glassware, etc. with bleach which is then neutralized with sodium thiosulfate. Alcohol is also used to clean plastic mixing tanks, etc. Assume you are interested in general preventative maintence.