How to clean a used aquarium!

AmatuerAuer · Feb 26, 2016

Hi Everyone,

I recently came upon x4 potential frag tanks. They are the 4x1x1 tanks you would see at a Pet Smart etc.. They came from a private seller and had been used for turtles and other aquarium pets. The price was right, and they are predrilled so I went for it.

Here is the question: Aside from spraying out tank and wiping it down with a new sponge and clean water, what other steps should I take to sanitize and prep these tanks for use? They will be frag tanks plumbed to my main DT to increase water volume and stability.

Thanks!
AA

ps. If you have a reason I should not plumb them into my DT but leave them as a separate environment let me know. I dont want to have two dosing systems, and two smaller less stable systems. The only up side I can see is the reduced risk of pest introduction as I grow my frag collection.

143MPCo · Feb 26, 2016

Vinegar soak, rinse, followed by a mild bleach bath, and rinse is all that's really need.
Let them dry out well before filling with saltwater.

143MPCo · Feb 26, 2016

AmatuerAuer said:
ps. If you have a reason I should not plumb them into my DT but leave them as a separate environment let me know. I dont want to have two dosing systems, and two smaller less stable systems. The only up side I can see is the reduced risk of pest introduction as I grow my frag collection.

Will you be using a "coral" QT before adding them to your frag tanks?

AmatuerAuer · Feb 26, 2016

Thanks for your response 143MP. What is the % of vinegar/water for that soak? Same question for the bleach bath. Just put in bleach/water or vinegar/water solution and a small power head?

For the coral QT, I do not have a QT tank set up right now but believe I would need to set up two QT tanks. One for fish, where I can use copper dosing and one for coral where no copper would be used correct? I would probably set up a small 10g QT tank for coral and run a canister filter I have for a period of a week or two just to watch.

143MPCo · Feb 26, 2016

Vinegar/tap-water anything from 5:1 - 1:1 is more than fine, even full strength is ok, the more diluted the weaker the solution and the longer the cleaning process can take. The addition of a powerhead will help to keep the water moving, and is a good idea. Bleach/Tap-Water, I like to go 1:5, rinse, rinse, and let dry. If you feel the need you can even rinse once more with RODI.

As for coral QT some ppl don't do it for the simple fact that the additional equipment required to do something like that can be an expense that they don't want and turn to just dipping the coral. If you tie in the frag system to your DT you might be ok by just dipping a coral but that doesn't remove all chances of introducing an unwanted critter like in the case of the eggs left behind from AEFW.

For all the money we tend to have wrapped up in our system, not just equipment, but also with livestock, is it really worth it is a question only you can answer.:)