Biochemistry Laboratory Cleaners

Question:
What cleaners are recommended for general biochemistry laboratory?

Answer:
For manual or soak cleaning of laboratory instruments, labware (glassware or plastics), vacuum equipment, tissue culture ware and sampling appartus soiled with grit, grime, slime, grease, oils, particulates, deposits, chemicals and solvents, we recommend using Liquinox. It is concentrated to save you money, phosphate free, biodegradable and is "free rinsing" meaning it leaves no interfering residue (which
is very important in the laboratory for reliable results!). We recommend that you monitor shifts in pH towards neutral as indicator to refresh an exhausted cleaning solution.

With regard to removing proteinaceous soils, tissue, blood and body fluids from glassware or plastics, we recommend using Tergazyme, a detergent that contains a protease enzyme. As with all of Alconox brand detergents, Tergazyme is concentrated to save you money, biodegradable, and free rinsing leaving no interfering residues (again, very important in the laboratory for reliable results!). We recommend that once in solution it be used within 3 to 6 hrs, due to the half life of the enzyme.
Pipets can be pre-soaked in Liquinox prior to cleaning. For the actual cleaning step we recommend Alcotabs be used in combination with syphon washer. Alcotabs are specially formulated tablets for slow release for maximum cleaning performance from your syphon pipette washers. Alcotabs are concentrated to save you money, biodegradable, and free rinsing to give you reliable results and no interfering residues. If you are testing for ALCOTABS® detergent, please adapt the procedure to use a detergent test kit that is sensitive to anionic detergent residues. These kits are available from:

1. Chemetrics Inc. water testing kit for anionic detergents, which is sensitive to 1/4 ppm. Contact Chemetrics, Inc. at 1-800-356-3072.

2. LaMotte Chemical water testing kit for anionic detergents, which is sensitive to 1 ppm. Contact LaMotte Chemical at 301-778-3100.

3. Hach Company water testing kit for anionic detergents, which is sensitive to 1 ppm. Contact Hach Company at 1-800-227-4224 or 303-669-3050.

Use the kits to test for detergent in rinse water that has passed through a pipette. If no detergent is detected with the kit, you can conclude that there is no interfering residue from the ALCOTABS®.
Alconox cleaners are available from leading lab supply dealers such as VWR Scientific, Thomas Scientific (800) 345-2100, Cole-Parmer (800) 323-4340, Spectrum Chemical (800) 772-8786 and USA Bluebook (800-548-1234); or check for a local dealer at www.alconox.com.