Hello everybody!
Is it because we shell collectors are such orderly people or why do we spend
so much time discussing cleaning methods?
Anyway, I would like to add two things to this neverending discussion:
Firstly, after our recent discussion about ultrasonic cleaning I bought an
ultrasonic cleaner on ebay for 30 Euro including postage. (For a new one
that is.) After experimenting this afternoon with a bunch of Hexaplex
trunculus from this years summer holiday I would estimate that I can reduce
cleaning time for about 30 - 50 percent, which is not bad. From my first
experiences I would say that the cleaner does remove only a small part of
the encrustations but loosenst the rest sufficiently so you can scratch them
off easier. Also it seems to be effective in removing the very fine dust
that is pressed into the structure of the shell by scratching. It isn't any
good in removing algae or very hard encrustations. I will do some more tests
during the holidays and tell you the results.
The second topic I would like to address is bleach. When we're talking about
it it usually is chlorine bleach. I recently looked more closely at some of
the bottles available here in German drugstores and found out they are all
based on hydrogene peroxid. My question is why is that so? Is hydrogen
peroxide more effective or more eco-friendly? Is anyone of the two better
suited for shells? If you know more about chemistry than I do, help me
out...

Greetings, Roland

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