Starting up an old tank

[imcgary]

HI everyone

I have a 46g bowfront that i have had for about 3 years now. it was a freshwater community tank but It has been sitting empty(still has gravell but no water) for about 5-6 months now. I have a larger 125g tank that currently has about 20-30 platies in it 3 adults and the rest are fry between 1day olds - 3 month olds. I am wanting to move the platies to the 46g and use the larger one for Angels. The gravel is a 50/50 mix gravel eco-complete and i will probably plant this tank as well. Do i need to clean/disenfect the tank before moving the platies back to the 46g. if so then how do you recommend.

 

[2cvbloke]

HI everyone

I have a 46g bowfront that i have had for about 3 years now. it was a freshwater community tank but It has been sitting empty(still has gravell but no water) for about 5-6 months now. I have a larger 125g tank that currently has about 20-30 platies in it 3 adults and the rest are fry between 1day olds - 3 month olds. I am wanting to move the platies to the 46g and use the larger one for Angels. The gravel is a 50/50 mix gravel eco-complete and i will probably plant this tank as well. Do i need to clean/disenfect the tank before moving the platies back to the 46g. if so then how do you recommend.

Cleaning and disinfecting would be a good idea incase any infections or nasty stuff was left in the tank. Personally I'd reccomend washing the gravel in very hot water, maybe even boiling it somehow, and as for the tank, white vinegar will clean the tank up nicely internally, as for the filter, I think people run them in a solution of water and vinegar for about an hour to clean them, then rinsing them off in clean water, ready for seeding with filter material from your established tank...

 

[imcgary]

well the seeding is going to be pretty easy. When i had the tank going before i had two HOB filters w/ biowheels. after moving to the larger tank i free floated the biowheels in the large tank so those should do the trick. i will probably also add some of the gravel and maybe some bio spira just for good measure. my big concern is disenfecting the tank. Could i also use bleach and then dechlorinator?

 

[2cvbloke]

my big concern is disenfecting the tank. Could i also use bleach and then dechlorinator?

You could, but you'll probably need to use a lot of dechlorinator to make sure you get rid of all the chlorine from the bleach...

 

[theotheragentm]

If you leave the tank out in the sun for a couple days, you should be fine. I'd still rinse out the tank and gravel and clean off the glass.

 

[imcgary]

Would i need to be concerned with any residual vinegar if i use that method?