Hello! I have a "quick" question about sanitizing aquarium equipment: I have a few older pieces I'm going to want to use in the near future (Penguin 200 filter sans biowheel- I have a new biowheel on hand, a piece of mopani wood, a rock cave, a plastic cave, and a handful of plastic plants). They've been in storage for at least a year, but the tank they came from was in pretty bad shape, so I hesitated to use them as-is.
First I boiled the mopani and the rock cave. I then put all the plastic decorations in a bucket with a mild bleach solution (about 1 cup in 3
gal), let them soak and ran the water through the filter for five minutes. Then I rinsed everything off (took the filter apart and rinsed all the pieces), filled the bucket up with clean water, added some dechlorinator, and soaked/ran the filter for about an hour.
I don't need the pieces right away, so if I let everything dry out completely for a while, I should be good, right? No diseases or bleach left? I know I'm probably just being paranoid at this point, but I thought I'd get a second opinion just in case (most of it will go in a new QT tank, but I want the filter as an addition to my main tank. Since I've only got one fish at the moment, and I've had him for several years, I want to be extra sure it's safe). Thanks a bunch!