I'm sure I read somewhere ages ago, but can't find it now, that denture cleaners or sterilizers were good for cleaning camelbak bladders, usually find milton ok but it's not shifting the stuff out of this one, so what do you use, name it and where from – my local supermarket only has steradent which is flavoured but really I just want some sterlizer without the minty fresh taste??

Boots do sterilising tablets for baby bottles and stuff. One of them in and leave it overnight.
A good idea is to remove the bite valve (make sure the valve's shut off first or you'll flood the place) and the white ring on the lid. Chuck them in a glass of water plus half a tablet and stick the end of the hose in the glass too, that way everything gets a good clean.

Go and get some denture sterilising tablets (steradent?), rinse the bladder out, put a couple of tablets in, leave it for a while and ta daaaaa: a clean, sterilised bladder.

Hardly ever need to clean mine as i leave it full of water in the fridge. Ocassionaly i fill it with Milton solution(baby bottle steriliser)& leave it overnight.

Milton tabs here and also a baby teat cleaning brush for the bite valve. I avoid putting anything else but water in mine to reduce the risk of bugs due to the sugars etc.

if it's that dirty a milton cant clean it perhaps its time for new one?

Once it's clean I would suggest that you store it in the freezer between use, just clean the mouth piece and rinse with warm water after use – seems to stop the nasties from growing in the bladder or tube

Make the milton solution double strength and leave it twice as long, seems to shift everything.

you wont clean it but it will be safe to drink if you have strilised with a fairly strong solution?

I normally clean all of the lumps out by hand, scrape as much of a slime out of the inside, and run a kettle full of boiling water through it.

Storing in the freezer after use helps keep the black stuff at bay too.

Cheers, Rich

I drain the water out then put it in the freezer. Make sure the pipe is water free by blowing through it. Its quick and easy.

Some great advice there, thanks, it is a few years old but a good clean should sort it out and I just need to get in the habit of emptying and cleaning after use – I tend to just chuck it down and not pick it up again for a few days so it's got a bit manky. 😳