I have a new tank, and need some advice.

[gravesly]

New to the group.

Not sure where else to post this, but I just picked up an old 125g ( I think) tank, and I want to give her a good cleaning.

It looks like they used some standard white silicone in it, which I will have to remove somehow. Get the tank safe stuff. ( oh yeah, one more thing on the silicones topic, most any silicone that is of low viscosity has a flow increaser in it. This is a chemical that never leaves, and will leach out of the cured silicone for the life of the product. I work with silicone in mold makiening and casting. So I would think that if it is caustic to humans, it plays nasty on a small ecosystem)

It looks as if the previous owners had a cat at one point, cause I found cat litter and little cat "treats" mixed in with the sand that was still in the tank.

I ditched the sand and the few shells/coral that was left in it as well.

But is there any way to clean the glass of the tank that will not leave any sort of chemical residue?

This is my first big tank, and don't want to kill it before I even start!

Thanks all!

 

[liquid]

I moved this to the General Discussion forum where it will get more exposure.

Whenever I have acquired a used tank from someone, I typically wash it down with vinegar to get rid of any of the calcium carbonate buildup from hard water (if it was a freshwater tank) or coralline algae (marine tank). If you're concerned about microbial problems, you probably could wash it down with a 10% bleach solution, flush the tank out well, and then let it air out for a couple days. Make sure that you cannot smell any bleach smell before you use it.

hth

Shane

 

[Garry thomas]

i'd be wary about using a tank which has differant colour silicone? could leach lots of crap ect? is it worth it? it's a big outlay to start a marine tank, what happens if they all die, i dont think you'd be very happy.
why not totally strip the tank and rebuild using the correct silicone in britain we use high modular clear!

 

[wade1]

The silicon you are probably right on... you'll have to strip it out and replace it.

As for cleaning the tank in general, as liquid said you can use bleach, or you can go to the pool/hardware store and buy a bottle of muriatic acid, dump that in and fill with water. The HCl readily breaks most organic molecules in time and it rinses right out. The vinegar is the same thing, just alot less caustic. Another (and newer) option is to use OxiClean (R)... its potassium hydroxide and forms peroxides as it breaks down, effectively removing alot of compounds. Its harmless when washed away with water too.

Wade