Aquarium safe cleaners?

[Paxdaddy]

Just got a 20 long for free and it really needs a good cleaning. I know I can use vinegar. Is there anything stronger that won't leave a residue or something that will harm its inhabitants after I set it up?

 

[Ricky 1]

Baking Soda is ok to clean with and vinegar, give it a good rinse out after

 

[ncgamerguy]

I've heard a small amount of dish soap works. Just like everything else rinse it good afterwards.

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[Mebbid]

I just use water and a razor blade for glass tanks. Works like a charm.

 

[Paxdaddy]

Thanks guys. This tank has been outside a while so it's pretty nasty. Baking soda you just mix with water or what?

 

[Coyne]

I think the baking soda is just to make the water gritty so that you have something to scrub with. Its sodium bicarbonate, a mineral not unlike what makes up the hard water stains you're trying to remove. In the past I just used a plastic pot scrubber instead. Maybe there's some chemical "fight fire with fire" logic that I'm not getting though.

Somebody on the forums here once recommended a product called "Bar Keeper's Friend" to me when I was having trouble removing some particularly tough hard water stains. I ended up just using more vinegar and elbow grease in the end, so I couldn't personally say how well it works. As mentioned a couple times already, I would rinse it REALLY well and repeatedly before adding fish if you try it out.

 

[trennamw]

Barkeepers friend is great but does have chemicals.

I'd stick with baking soda, as it's something people put in tanks anyway, so residue won't hurt

I'd never use dish soap. Some are highly toxic to fish. Rinse well only goes so far ... Note how your hands smell of it after you rinse them well.

Besides whatever is in there probably doesn't benefit from dish soap ... That's best for grease.

If it's mineral build up, vinegar or baking soda are best. If you want to disinfect, you can use bleach. You then rinse it well, and then give it a huge dose of dechlorinator. Let it dry a few days too. I do this often with used tanks. After the rinse I wipe the inside with straight dechlorinator on a towel.


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[militantpotato]

How's the silicone? Any tank I've messed with that sat dry outside for a good period of time was basically toast from degraded silicone.

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[Fishfur]

Fwiw, CLR calcium/rust/lime remover does a good job on more stubborn hard water stains. It rinses clean with water, I've never had a problem using it where fish or shrimp are concerned. Rinse and rinse again is my motto no matter what I use.

If you do use vinegar, heating it up makes it work better and you can get vinegar for pickling that is stronger too, 7% rather than 5%. Costs a bit more, works better. In some places you can even get 10% vinegar. Be certain to never mix it with bleach, you'll get a foul gas that can burn your throat and lungs, even be fatal if you got too much of it.

Baking soda works best used as a paste, mix it with just enough water to make it pasty, scrub with it. Razor blade is best for really stuck on stuff, and you can often find that older tanks have a permanent stain at the water line, due to etching. No amount of cleaning or scrubbing will remove etching. The only cure is polishing, which is very, very time consuming and hardly worth the effort. The line will not show when it's wet in any case.

 

[Paxdaddy]

How's the silicone? Any tank I've messed with that sat dry outside for a good period of time was basically toast from degraded silicone. Sent from my LG-E980 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

Silicone is good. It's only been outside for a few weeks. And I know it doesn't leak because we had a lot of rain for about 2 weeks and it was almost full and the wooden trailer it was sitting on was completely dry.

 

[militantpotato]

Rock, good luck cleaning. I've used white vinegar, takes a ton of elbow grease but it works. Muratic acid works very well, but will cause serious chemical burns if it touches your skin. Use a plastic no scratch scrub pad with whatever you use, maybe test it on the bottom and let it dry if unsure.

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[trennamw]

I used CLR on a similar item before. The thing about using it in a rectangular container is when you spray it with the hose to rinse, it's a straight shot to spray back in the eyes ... But you're likely not as klutzy as me!


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