Hi Peter,

Our Aqua Clear Water Conditioner protects water baths and other water systems against the growth of algae, bacteria, molds and biofilms. Just 2mls of Aqua Clear should be used for every liter of water your water bath contains. After the blue tint to your water disappears the Aqua Clear is no longer effective and you must repeat the process (approx. 3 months).

Aqua Clear should always be stored in a safe area, with child-safe locks if used in a school setting. Algaecide and pesticide wastes are acutely hazardous and improper disposal is a violation of Federal Law. When disposing of this water conditioner, follow these guidelines:

If you need to empty out your water bath and there is no blue tint left to the water, you can safely put this old liquid down the drain and flush with water. The diluted water bath Aqua Clear is no longer effective after 3 months when no blue tint is present.

Still have a blue tint? Never flush concentrated Aqua Clear, even with copious flushing. If you need to dispose of your water bath and there is still a blue tint, it should be absorbed with a suitable inert material (vermiculite, dry sand, even kitty litter), bagged, and placed in a chemical waste container bound for a proper waste disposal facility. Most laboratories have specific protocols for hazardous solid waste disposal, so please check with your lab.

The empty Aqua Clear container should never be reused or refilled. The empty container should be triple rinsed, punctured, and put into a proper solid waste container.

If you are looking for more information on the topics surrounding algaecide and pesticide disposal, I would visit The Pesticide Stewardship Organization and State Pesticide Disposal Database.

NOTE: Aqua Clear is considered an algaecide, and effectively keeps your water bath clean. Many calls come through to SP Tech Support asking whether Aqua Clear can be used in their laboratory incubators. The answer here is no, not even jacketed incubators, as your culture plates, colonies and cell culture samples would suffer a deadly fate if you added Aqua Clear to your incubator’s water tank/tray.

I hope this helped and answered your question. Thanks for writing in, and please feel free to write back if I can help in any other way. Yours in science, Lab Guy