Hello,
I keep my mammalian cells in a typical incubator at 37C with 5% CO2. I fill the water bath with diH20. Following the advise of a colleague, I add a few drops (250-500uL) of 20% SDS to the water bath upon water change. I think that the SDS is good at preventing growth, and I do not have a problem with contamination in the bath. However, over time the SDS deposits on the bottom of the bath, resulting in a greasy, white substance. I am not worried about this and I only clean it off on occasion. I understand that there are algicides sold just for the purpose of preventing growth in the water bath, but personally, I think the SDS is even better. I am also aware of copper sulfate being used as a water bath disinfectant.
What method do you use to keep your water bath clean? Do you see any other downsides of using a detergent such as SDS? What other detergents may be used besides SDS? Do any additives to the water bath adversely affect cells? What is the industry standard?
Thank you!
Copper sulfate does the trick for me. It takes just a tiny shard of it to keep the bath clean forever. There's too little of it to ever visibly build up. It has the advantage that it looks very clean and professional. You could see it easily if anything was growing. With the SDS muck you might have to do further tests to be sure nothing is alive in it. People who walk by might go uh yuck what is this? It's also obviously completely non-volatile.
Copper sulfate does the trick for me. It takes just a tiny shard of it to keep the bath clean forever. There's too little of it to ever visibly build up. It has the advantage that it looks very clean and professional. You could see it easily if anything was growing. With the SDS muck you might have to do further tests to be sure nothing is alive in it. People who walk by might go uh yuck what is this? It's also obviously completely non-volatile.
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