Hi Cuneyt,
Thanks for the note.

I have never mixed the Bleach and Dishwashing liquid.  It was simply a pre-
washing process.  Unfortunately the soap (detergent) does not completely come
out of the shells even after soaking in clean water.

This was done on big shells that tend to get growths of algae’s and the like,
such as on a Strombus.  It was also done on small shells with a toothbrush to
get off surface debris before storage (such as freezing or in alcohol) to be
properly cleaned at a later time.

The thought behind washing was multi-fold, to clean off the light ocean
deposits so they would not smell as bad, bleach easier and more evenly, and to
be easier to clean latter.  Many of these shells were not going to be bleached
either to save the Periostracum.

After having many shells that I did this way, which kept their green algae
spots within the shell, now I only scrub them with a brush to take the crud off…
no soap!

Leslie

FYI:  In the 80’s I worked for Mid-Continent Chemical in Fort Worth Texas,
which is an industrial manufacturer of soaps, detergents, surfactants, and
lubricants.



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Dear Leslie,
Bleach should always be used by itself, not mixed with any other soap,
detergent etc. Standard bleaching products like Chlorox has got around % 5
active ingredient in it and it can be used directly with most of the shells
as indicated in previous mails. However, it still works ok with many of the
shells in much lesser consantrations, so liquid bleach can be diluted for
economical reasons when used in bulk. Active chlorine directly reacts with
organic material like algae and therefore gets neutrialized. It is a good
practice to add a little more chlorine after the first reaction of bleaching
to keep the solution active.

Best regards,
Cuneyt Birol
CEO,
Birka Chemicals Corp. (A detergent and bleach manufacturing company based in
Ankara,Turkey)

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