Before & After DIY Fix
Wanted to follow up on my original post a few weeks ago. Super happy with my fix, and I love the clear look now. If anyone has suffered from old, cloudy lava lamp fluid, I was able to do a simple fluid replacement with some pretty basic things.
I purchased some dawn platinum plus powerwash and a big tub of epsom salt from Costco. These are the two main ingredients you need, except for water of course.
I uncrimped the top, which was a huge pain, gently dumped all of the blue liquid and verrry gently rinsed out the lamp with some water. I have a Brita so I always used filtered water.
I then gently filled the lamp with filtered water to about 80% of its volume, and turned the lamp back on. I let it heat up until the wax seemed to be melted, which took about 3 hours.
Next using a glass straw, I crudely pipetted the dawn soap into the lamp. I estimate I put in about 7-9 straws worth of fluid. I made sure to drop the soap liquid in gently, not making any bubbles.
With the Epsom salt, I made a 1:1 ratio (in volume) of salt to near boiling water from a kettle. After mixing the salt water until the salt fully dissolved, I slowly poured in the solution, tipping the lamp slightly so that the solution would flow smoothly down the glass. I’d stop about every 100ml to watch the wax move and determine if it was buoyant enough. After about 1/2 cup of solution did it start looking like a true lava lamp. I let the lamp run overnight to clear any bubbles.
Woke up and turned the lamp off. When it was still hot, I put the rubber top thing back in its spot and placed the metal cap back on. I re-crimped the cap with a screwdriver as best as I could and voila, a working lava lamp.
Cost me about $15 and a Brita I already had on hand. Worked perfectly!