I also have and use an ultrasonic cleaner (meant for jewelry).  I use a few
drops of dish washing soap and tap water - it does a great job.  It is not
meant for encrusted material, but on dirt and grime it works perfectly.  The
really nice thing is that you can clean small and delicate freshwater
shells.  While it is true that an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner is limited to
fairly small shells, the larger ones can be cleaned with a toothbrush
anyway.

Tom Eichhorst in New Mexico, USA

-----Original Message-----
From: Conchologists List [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
Marcus Coltro
Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2006 11:01 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: RES: Cleaning without chemicals


I have one of these ultrasonic cleaners (a small tank) which never gave any
satisfactory results. I
only used with plain water but someone told me it is necessary to use some
sort of proper special
liquid to remove dirt.

Marcus

-----Mensagem original-----
De: Conchologists List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Em nome de Monfils,
Paul
Enviada em: quarta-feira, 1 de novembro de 2006 12:18
Para: [log in to unmask]
Assunto: Re: Cleaning without chemicals

The answer to your question is ... sonicate!  A small ultrasonic cleaner
isn't too expensive, and it will remove every trace of sand and dirt and
grit from a shell in a few seconds, while being very gentle to the shell
itself.  There are always many ultrasonic cleaners available on EBay.  Some
are quite large and powerful, and expensive.  But many of them are small and
inexpensive.

Paul M.

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