Keeping your toilet dry as much as possible, flushing it every week at least once, and regular cleaning are the thumb rules to prevent pink rings in the toilet bowl.
But learning why the pink ring around the toilet bowl is created will help you take action against it. Otherwise, the pink ring may return within a few days after removal, which is really unfortunate!
This guide is tailored to let you know the causes of toilet bowl pink rings, the cleaning process, and prevention tips. Let’s deep dive.
Table of Contents
- What Causes A Pink Ring In Toilet
- How To Get Rid Of Pink Ring In Toilet Bowl
- How To Prevent Ring In Toilet Bowl
What Causes A Pink Ring In Toilet
There are several reasons for creating a pink ring around your toilet bowl. Where some are bacterial, and some are related to your water supply. But, nothing to worry about, because these aren’t that serious.
Reason 1: Serratia Marcescens
Serratia Marcescens is a bacteria, primarily airborne and thrives on dust and moist space. It breeds and grows within a few days.
Since it is an airborne bacteria and thrives in moist air, it can easily create a pink ring around your toilet bowl when it gets the air and wet in a space. However, it’s not a harmful bacteria and easy to deal with.
How do you diagnose that Serratia Marcescens causes a pink ring?
Closely look around your bathroom to see whether there are more pink rings or not.
If you notice no pink ring except the toilet bowl water line, most probably the Serratia Marcescens is the culprit of your toilet pink ring.
On the other hand, if there are many pink rings on your bathroom floor, toilet base, sink base, and other spaces except the toilet bowl water line. In that case, some other reasons behind the pink rings.
Reason 2: Hard water supply
Hard water contains a higher amount of calcium, magnesium, and salts. These chemicals dissolve in water and can leave a pink ring.
How do you diagnose that hard water supply causes a pink ring?
There is a simple litmus test to determine whether your home supplies hard water or not. Collect a bottle and a few drops of pure mild soap to do the test.
- Fill the bottle ⅓ with water and pour mild soap into the bottle.
- 5-6 times shake it vigorously.
- Notice the bottle if the water looks milky, cloudy and there are no fluffy bubbles.
- You should consider it as hard water.
Reason 3: Rust or iron in the water
If your home is old, its sewer lines must be old. So when the water flows through the lines, the rust and iron get mixed with the water. These contaminated particles will leave a pink rink in your toilet bowl. Generally, you can’t detect them due to their tiny size. These are only viewable with a microscope.
How do you diagnose that rust or iron in the water causes a pink ring?
There is no rocket science, but instead, some basic concepts of determining rusty water in your house. The concepts are
- If your water contains rust, it looks reddish-brown.
- If you take water in a white bowl, noticing floating pieces of rust is also a simple tactic to know rusty water.
- Fill a bottle of water, and keep it resting overnight. In the morning, notice the bottle. If the water contains rust and iron, these will be settled in the bottom of the bottle.
How To Get Rid Of Pink Ring In Toilet Bowl
A pink ring in your toilet bowl looks unpleasant but won’t be a big deal to remove. We’re sure you have many products in your home that can be used to remove the toilet bowl pink rink. But for this, it’s essential to know what removes rings in the toilet bowl and how to use them.
Here’s a list of home products that are great for removing stubborn toilet marks, as they contain different acids and chemicals. Here is a helpful article on toilet bowl cleaner acid for cleaning.
- Vinegar (Acetic Acid)
- Baking soda (Sodium Bicarbonate)
- Lemon juice (Citric Acid)
- Coca-Cola (Phosphoric Acid)
- Bleach (Hypochlorous Acid)
- Borax (Boric Acid)
Though many methods are available to use these products for cleaning toilet bowl water or pink marks, we will let you know how to remove the toilet ring without scrubbing; the most straightforward way takes less time and energy.
The Things You’ll Need
- One plastic cup
- Three cups of white vinegar
- One cup of baking soda
- Toilet brush
Project Overview
- Estimated Cost- $0
- Required time- 45 minutes
- Skill Level – Beginner
Process
- Flush the toilet bowl and scoop up the remaining water with the plastic cup.
- Pour 3 cups of distilled white vinegar into the stubborn marked toilet bowl.
- Spill the baking soda around the pink ring and wait at least 10 minutes to sit them.
- Spread the moist baking soda around the toilet bowl with a toilet brush and let them sit for 30 minutes.
- Within this time, the white vinegar and baking soda will react with the pink rings and soften it.
- Flush the toilet several times to remove dirty water and clean the bathroom.
- After flushing, you’ll see the magic, as there is no pink ring around the toilet water line.
How To Prevent Ring In Toilet Bowl
Removing the ring is half the job, as unless you take preventive maintenance, it will come back again and again. The pink circle and the ring can also be red, black, yellow, gray, orange, and many other colors.
First, you have to detect the causes of creating rings in your toilet bowl; then solve the problem. Since we have discussed three major causes and how to diagnose the reason. So hopefully, you can do it. Now let’s talk about the preventive steps based on the reasons.
Solution For Reason 1
If you find, Serratia Marcescens is the creator of the toilet bowl pink ring. There are a few basic practices that will be beneficial to solve it.
- Keep your toilet dry
Since moist space and air presence is the most suitable place to thrive, Serratia marcescens. You have to prevent those two things, to create a hostile environment for it. So, it won’t live and grow.
- Though you can’t keep the toilet bowl dry, flush your toilet every time after use.
- Use a squeegee to dry showers, walls, and other spaces to prevent dampness.
- You can also use an exhaust fan to dry your bathroom fast.
- Regular toilet flushing
The toilet, which is not used regularly (guest bathroom) and won’t be flushed periodically. The Serratia Marcescens will find the stored water of the toilet bowl is a gem to breed and grow. You shouldn’t flush these toilets every day, as it’s entirely a waste of water. Rather, flushing the toilet every 3-4 days later will be helpful to ruin Serratia Marcescens breeding space.
Solution For Reason 2
After investigating the pink ring reasons, if you find hard water is the culprit. Softening the water is the ultimate solution, and for this, you can install a water filter in your toilet system or use commercial toilet water softeners.
Installing a water filter is the best option as it helps get pure water. So, you can avoid many water-related health diseases. But, it requires a significant investment because the filter is a pricey product, and you’ll need a plumber to install it.
On the other hand, many commercial toilet water softeners are available on the market. You can use any one among them, due to their budget-friendly price and quality. However, we recommend using Iron OUT Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaner, specifically designed for toilets, bathrooms, septic, and plumbing systems.
- This water softener comes with 6 tablets in a package that makes them easy to use.
- Repel hard water and rust every time you flush your toilet.
- One tablet works for your tension-free 45 days
- The tablet is powerful but safe for your toilet as it won’t damage internal toilet equipment, septic, or plumbing fixtures.
Solution For Reason 3
If your old plumbing fixtures leave rust in the water, that creates rings. To solve the problem, the best practice is to call professional plumbers. They can identify where the fixtures get leaks or breaks that make rust.
Yes, since it’s your old home and plumbing fixtures, you may find it difficult and expensive.
In that case, you can use the Iron OUT Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaner, which also works against rust. Here I’ve talked about drinking toilet bowl cleaner. (Here you can make an internal link on Toilet Bowl Cleaner Kill You)
General Preventive Maintenance
Apart from those specific steps, you can follow some general preventive maintenance steps. Those will help keep your toilet tiptop, preventing toilet bowl rings.
- Weekly clean your toilet
Human Poop and urine also have many chemicals, and these are also responsible for leaving rinks. So you should clean your toilet once a week with home remedies or commercial toilet cleaner. Here I’ve talked about clean poop stains toilet in details.
- Maintain the toilet once a year
Whether your home is old or new, whether you renovate it or not. You should regularly check all your toilet, water, and other systems once a year through a professional plumber. So, if anything is wrong, you can find it before getting the issue serious. And take care of it, which will save you from huge hassles.
Related Questions
Pink ring in toilet diabetes?
In general, a pink ring in the toilet won’t indicate your diabetes. However, if you take all preventive steps to avoid the pink ring, but, it returns. Then you should consider that your blood sugar level may be high without enough glucose. That will be released through urine, and you don’t know it. So you should check your diabetes to ensure whether you have diabetes or not.
Why does my toilet get a ring so fast?
If you just clean your toilet to remove the ring but won’t take preventive care. It’s obvious that the ring will come back. So, you have to do two jobs simultaneously to avoid getting the toilet ring back so fast. Remove the ring and immediately take preventive care and relief from this irritating appearance and your toilet.
Final Words
Not only pink rings, any rings or stains, or marks are just ruin your toilet aesthetic look. So, it’s not a simple thing that you can overlook. Once you notice the ring, remove it, and take preventive steps not to come back to them.
