Cleaning a used aquarium

Wojtasb · Dec 1, 2013

I just purchased a 125 used aquarium. It was setup freshwater and obviously not taken care of... There is green algae all over the glass. I know I can soak it in vinegar and water, but I'm not sure of the ratio of vinegar to water and how long to soak it for? Also once it's through soaking and I remove the water/vinegar mix do I just let it dry or rinse it again?

I'm upgrading again from a 75 gallon, but I've never bought a used aquarium before. It was just too good of a deal to pass up.

Thanks for the help

Aqua fire/medic · Dec 1, 2013

I do a 50/50 mix in a spray bottle. Spray, let it soak and then clean. Double rinse and let dry

Snookin · Dec 1, 2013

What is all included in your purchase? Just a standard glass 125g tank? Overflow? Pumps?

mfinn · Dec 2, 2013

I would use straight vinegar and a nylon scrub pad.
Rinse and drain and towel dry.

Wojtasb · Dec 2, 2013

Awesome thanks. I got a 125 glass with stand, canopy and sump for $150. I cleaned it with straight vinegar and scrubbed and scraped all the glass. I have it soaking right now. I also sanded and primed the canopy and stand and plan on painting it tonight. I am going to transfer everything from my 75 gallon over to this one sometime later this week. Not looking forward to the swap since I want the new tank where the old one is.

I'm also wondering about my sand. I have a 100lbs of live sand I just replaced in July.... Should that be enough or should I get a couple bags of dead sand to add to it? Also should I mix the sands together or place one over the other?

I also plan on using my old sump along with the new one I got using a 1 1/2" bulkhead and using one as a refuge.

mfinn · Dec 2, 2013

Sounds like you got a awesome deal.
Last time I swapped out a 180 for my 240 and wanted it in the same place as the old one, I did it over 3 days.

I got 2 sponge filters primed ( in my sump for 3 weeks) and set up two 30 gallon tanks. One was my qt tank and the other was borrowed.
This was setup as holding tank for my fish.
Then I bought a 6' dia. plastic kiddy wading pool, and placed all my corals in it with a couple pieces of rock, a heater and 2 powerheads.
Then I borrowed a 100 gallon stock tank to house all my live rock, which never was exposed to air more than 5 minutes.
Once everything was out of the old tank, I was able to bring in the new stand and tank and get it plumbed up and even did a few hour freshwater leak test, before adding new freshwater and salt. Then I let everything set for about10 hours before moving everything over. In that 10 hours I did multiple water changes with all the holding tanks and the new water, so everything could be moved over at once.
By keeping the rock totally submerged, with a minimum of air time, I did not have any kind of cycle.