If you spend enough time on TikTok, you’ll likely run across a video of someone brutalizing a bottle of Fabuloso cleaner with a caption like, “Had to try this hack!” After stabbing a hole through the plastic bottle, they’ll set it in their toilet tank, then show you how the toilet water turns the same color as the cleaner. This allegedly helps clean the toilet with every flush and disperses a pleasant odor.
By now, you should know to be skeptical of TikTok cleaning or home hacks, but this one seems more harmless at first glance. So should you do it? Well, no.
It lowers your toilet’s flushing power
The first reason you should avoid sticking a bottle of cleaning solution in your tank is that it takes up space that should be occupied by water—and this lessens the toilet’s flushing power. Bomisch, a home renovation resource guide, points out that if you use a standard 45-ounce bottle of Fabuloso for the hack, you’re decreasing the amount of water used per flush from 1.6 gallons to 1.2, which is “not enough for a powerful flush system, especially if you want to keep poop from sticking to your toilet.”
So in the name of cleanliness, you’ll be flushing lovely-scented water… but potentially not all your poop. It doesn’t make sense.
You might cause actual damage to your toilet
If the thought of having to double flush or even plunge your toilet hasn’t already put you off, consider that depending on what cleaning product you stick in your tank, you could be degrading the parts of your toilet over time, too. The parts made of plastic and rubber are especially susceptible to damage from chemicals.
Spruce Toilets, a manufacturer in the space, also warns that cleaners designed for the floor and other surfaces just aren’t meant for toilets—at least not in that volume or consistency. You’re risking your valves and connecting parts by letting those chemicals run over them all the time, so “someday you will have to replace everything in your toilet if you want to keep using it.”