Cleaning old equipment.

[musicman]

I recently bought a 10 gal tank off of craig's list. When I got it it was full of a mixture of equipment for keeping freshwater fish and reptiles. There were some items that came with the tank that I would like to use. (because they were cheep)

It has a cheep heater that has no temp control, but the heater has some smelly brown (rust colored) spots that wont scrape off. It also has a cheep whisper in tank filter with an airpump. The airpump has what appears to be a non removable airline that has two whiteish areas that are a diffrent color than the slightly tea colored airline tube.

I would like use these items but I don't know how to clean them.
What do I do?

 

[jsoong]

I would try soaking the heater in pure vinegar, & if that don't work something stronger like CLR or muriatic acid. Make sure you rinse really well after. I would also bleach it to kill off any algae/bacteria/parasites. <1:10 overnight.> Rinse well after bleaching (last one with a double or triple dose of dechlor.)

As for the airline, I would replace the tubing. I am pretty sure that there is a way to change the tubing. If all else fails, you can cut the tubing off close to the pump & join in a new length of tubing using a straight connector.