How to convert a QT tank to a new home?

[aquanewbie72]

I had a red gourami with dropsy isolated in a 10gal QT tank. He has passed away and now I acquired a free 5 gal acrylic tank to use as a QT in the future.

SOOOO - in the interest of MTS - I'd like to develop this 10gal into a new community tank. I'm not sure what the gourami had so I'm wondering what to do so this tank is safe for new fish. It had Maracyn-II, a little bit of epsom salt, and Jungle Fungus Clear put into it.

Should I just dump all the water, scrub it down, and start over? And if so, do I need to clean it with bleach or something? Or just rinse it out with hot water?

Also, I'd like to get the 5gal set up and cycled so next time I need a QT tank, I've got one ready to go. Does everyone just leave their QT tank up and running all the time empty?

 

[YuccaPatrol]

I keep my 10 gallon QT running with a single female guppy in it. It is also my snail factory (for giving treats to my clown loaches) so I leave the lights on and let the algae go on all but the front glass. You do want to keep it running so that it always remains cycled. Not a bad idea to move a hardy community fish into it to keep a supply of fish waste for your biofilters.

I do a water change only every other time I change the water in my other tanks.

 

[Zagz]

I would get rid of the water, rinse the substrate not heavily, don't do anything to the filter except add some carbon to the filter though and put water back in. Run it this way for a few days and should be ok IMO.
Sorry about your loss btw.