cleaning old tank

[kk_thomas05]

I have a 2 gallon that was out in my barn for a year during a move. It has all the equipment with it, and I want to clean it up. How can I sterilize it and clean it enough to use again? I know I can't Lysol it or anything..lol. Any suggestions?

 

[Guest]

Hot water and a little bleach, scrub with a new sponge, rinse, rinse, rinse! the when you set it up, use extra dechlorinator.

 

[targaboy78]

Ditto... Exactly as corvuscorax said... but I'd like to clarify two points.

"little bleach" = no more than 1 part bleach to 10 parts water.

"new sponge" = A plain sponge. Some sponges come with an anti-bacterial agent. That's a NO-NO.

 

[nugrad2005]

Yeah as far the sponges go, boil it. No matter what it says on the package. I bought a sponge once that was supposedly free of everything. Well after a couple minutes of boiling the smell in the apartment was unbearable, i don't even want to imagine what was in it.

-Dan

 

[stresco]

Someone just gave me a 10 gal tank he was keeping turtles in. I want to use it as a hospital tank. Do i need to do anything other than scrubbing it out with bleach? Do i need to worry about cross contamination from the turtles to the hospital tank?

 

[loganj]

IMO, the bleach/water solution should be more than adequate to clean the turtle tank out. No bacteria will survive the bleach. Just make sure, as mentioned before, that you rinse the tank VERY well. Instead of a sponge, I use an algae scrubber pad from the LFS. Costs a little more I know, but it's safe and it'll cut through gunk that a lot of soft sponges won't touch. Vinegar, although I doubt it would kill any parasites or bacteria, is very good for cleaning tanks also. It'll cut through hard water deposits. I use a vinegar/water solution to clean the outside of the glass on all the tanks I care for. If you have the white deposits on the inside of the glass after you clean the tank with bleach, fill it up with water and add a quart or so of white vinegar. Throw in a PH or small pump and let it percolate for a couple of days. All that stuff will wipe right off.

 

[kbd517]

Logan- thanks for the tip about the vinegar... I've been dreading cleaning a 46 gal bowfront, b/c When I had tanks as a kid, I always heard the only thing to use for the hard water stains was table salt as an abrasive, and lots of elbow grease... Vinegar should work much better Any thoughts on using a vinegar/baking soda paste?
Kristen

 

[mendhigirl]

I heard that Oxy-Clean was a safer alternative than bleach for aquariums,though I haven't tried it myself.

 

[fishfreek]

Bleach is totally safe as long as you rinse the tank well. If you can still smell the bleach then its not been rinsed enough.

 

[kk_thomas05]

update--need suggestions

Hey you guys--thanks for all the help. I used a bit of bleach in water and soaked it and rinsed, then soaked and rinsed it MANY times in regular water over the course of a few days so I am sure it is clean. Then I reassembled it and have had it running for about a week without any cloudiness or anything. Now i just need to decide what to do with it. The salwater forum discourage me from having a 2 gallon SW, so what fun can I have with a freshwater? Any suggestions?

 

[loganj]

Any thoughts on using a vinegar/baking soda paste?

Well, baking soda is a base and vinegar is an acid...thinking that mix might not work out too well. The acid in the vinegar is what cuts through the hard water deposits. The baking soda will neutralize it. Every tank I have cleaned using straight vinegar has come out sparkling clean. I even use a mild vinegar/water solution to clean the outside glass on my tanks the tanks that I maintain for customers...works great and no danger to the fish/inverts.