spantabs or something similar? ->dumb question - (Dec/01/2008 )

hey guys -

back in the day, we used little antimicrobial/antifungal tablets that were simply dissolved into the water pan in our CO2 incubators for TC. they were called Spantabs; I believe they were also indicated for use in water baths and stuff. I just know I used 'em for years with primary cells and they didn't do anything toxic to the cells

in this lab group, we were using a disinfectant that was found to be killing our cells - surprise, surprise; I always figure if you can smell a chemical, the cells are getting overpowered and you need to back way off or get rid of it in your incubator -

but anyhow, I've tried to find Spantabs or something similar. I've been all over the net and can't find any such thing. one of our local reps is trying to sell me this infrared thing that will kill stuff in the water pan, but it's expensive

does anyone have a solution? know where I can get something similar to spantabs? I know you don't really need anything in the water pan if you change it every other week, but one of my lab-mates frequently has contaminated cells and I want to hedge my bets a little with the water pan

thanks!
A

Yeah, I know the things: Last I heard, everyone had stopped making them as they were very toxic or something. We have a couple of oldish containers of them still floating around "Aquasan" brand, active ingredient is 2-bromo-2 nitropropane-1,3-diol used at 1 g per 5 L waterbath, in case that helps.

Another trick is to get a bit of spare copper pipe and put it in the water, the copper should prevent most bacterial growth.

That is interesting that you say that about if you can smell the chemical then it is probably affecting the cells. I have been using copper sulphate in the water bath in our incubator, which has quite a strong smell and my cells just havent been growing, although they have grown happily in an incubator using just water in the pan.

One of the guys in our lab uses Medis in his water pan, he cultures oocytes which are apparently very sensitive, hence he doesnt use copper sulphate. Medis if you dont know it, is a antifungal, antibacterial etc cleaner for hoods and incubators. Seems to work for him.

copper SO4? I'd guess you're getting some reduction to H2S if it smells bad

hmm a piece of copper pipe. that may be the easiest fix.

mostly I'm just lazy; I don't want to have to swap out the water pan twice a week to keep out the cooties. it's a pain and there must be an easier way. I'll have to try the copper