Using used tank...can I?

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rdefino

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Aug 14, 2004
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Someone gave me a 75gal glass tank. I'm not sure what was in it or what it was used for. Can it be used? If so how do I clean it?
 
I was given a 90 gallon. A solution of water and vinegar worked well for cleaning it. I've yet to put anything living in there yet, however.
 
Agree with the cleaning method Gator suggested. Even if he is a Gator, the advice is sound. :wink:

The only problem that I do foresee is if the original owner used any type of copper medications in the tank. The silicon seals actually hold the copper and release it overtime. This would prohibit keeping any inverts in the tank without the use of a copper absorbing sponge or ion exchange resin.

If you do not wish to keep inverts, you shouldn't have a problem.
 
I don't think the levels of copper trapped would be harmful to inverts. The silicone wouldn't hold enough to actually damage anything that could be put in the tank
 
Copper from the silicone shouldn't be a problem, but you can run some carbon for a while if you're worried about it.
 
There is always a possibility here, guys, of the seals holding any copper that may have been dosed. A similar scenario happened to a customer of the LFS I frequent. He was sold a tank that was known to have copper medicine dosed in it. He has yet to keep any inverts alive in that thing for extended periods of time.

Now, I can't say for 100% certainty that is what is causing the problem (maybe he doesn't know what he is doing and it keeping the salinity to low perhaps, dunno), but it sure seems like too good of a coincidence to me.
 
I have a friend that changed his 150 fish only over to a reef and he used copper for years. He kept it in there at low levels just as a prevention thing. He changed the CC to LS and cleaned the whole thing with a real diluted amount of bleach. He filled it up in the back yard and let it sit for about 3 days then repeated it and then just washed all the bleach water out till you could'nt smell bleach anymore. Then it sat for about 2 weeks empty on the pattio till he got all his stuff for the reef. He has never had one thing die in almost a year :? But you never know as some would say! :lol:
 
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