Cleaning used tank

[mothergoose22]

I purchased a used Cade aquarium and the design of the overflow is hard to access to clean. It has a build up of light brown crust throughout and before I setup I wanted to clean as best as I could. My question is would it be wise to fill aquarium with tap water and citric acid and run it for a while to hopefully break down the build up? Anyways hopefully that wasn’t confusing. Thanks for the advice.

 

[W31Olds]

I usually use a spray bottle with full strength vineger and just keep wetting it then hose it off and if a large tank use a wet/dry vac to remove the water.

 

[Mebbid]

I purchased a used Cade aquarium and the design of the overflow is hard to access to clean. It has a build up of light brown crust throughout and before I setup I wanted to clean as best as I could. My question is would it be wise to fill aquarium with tap water and citric acid and run it for a while to hopefully break down the build up? Anyways hopefully that wasn’t confusing. Thanks for the advice.

It should be safe for the seals, personally tho i'd use something like a 1 gallon carboy brush to stick in there and clean it manually if you cant use your hand.

 

[mothergoose22]

I’m soaking the return pipes in a vinegar solution and it doesn’t seem to be breaking it down. I don’t know what this stuff is but it’s incredibly hard. I’m probably being overly picking I’m sure it’s not going to effect anything.

 

[mcarroll]

Sounds like aragonite precipitation...

If you can't get to it with a manual scraper on a stick, then I think this is where you'd want to CAREFULLY use something like muratic acid if you MUST have it clean.

**Take all precautions working with the stuff though.**

 

[mothergoose22]

Sounds like aragonite precipitation...

If you can't get to it with a manual scraper on a stick, then I think this is where you'd want to CAREFULLY use something like muratic acid if you MUST have it clean.

**Take all precautions working with the stuff though.**

Would leaving it be harmful later on?

 

[mcarroll]

Not harmful per se, but might encourage further precipitation on those areas. That precipitation will have some effect on alkalinity (and ca, mg) but it should be very minimal...maybe not even noticeable in testing.

 

[NanoSteam]

Here's what made an old tank look new again for me. Filled it with fresh water and mixed in citric acid. Rand the pumps for 24 hours and drained the next day and wiped the surfaces. Citric acid took care of all the right spots I couldn't get to but I ran it with the sump connected so it cleaned everything out.

 

[mothergoose22]

Here's what made an old tank look new again for me. Filled it with fresh water and mixed in citric acid. Rand the pumps for 24 hours and drained the next day and wiped the surfaces. Citric acid took care of all the right spots I couldn't get to but I ran it with the sump connected so it cleaned everything out.

This is what I was thinking. It would be a good time to make sure everything works and no leaks before I spend time filling with RO

 

[NanoSteam]

Here's what made an old tank look new again for me. Filled it with fresh water and mixed in citric acid. Rand the pumps for 24 hours and drained the next day and wiped the surfaces. Citric acid took care of all the right spots I couldn't get to but I ran it with the sump connected so it cleaned everything out.

This is what I was thinking. It would be a good time to make sure everything works and no leaks before I spend time filling with RO

Yup after draining and wiping surfaces I just let it air dry for another day. It was looking brand new.

 

[mothergoose22]

Yup after draining and wiping surfaces I just let it air dry for another day. It was looking brand new.

Do you remember how much per gallon you used?

 

[NanoSteam]

Yup after draining and wiping surfaces I just let it air dry for another day. It was looking brand new.

Do you remember how much per gallon you used?

I believe it was 1/2 cup of citric acid per gallon. Cheapest to buy it bulk from Amazon. That's what I had done.