Titi

I have a 2.5 gallon tank that has been empty for a few months, ever since I lost my last betta. I didn't think I would get another one, so I just removed the fish and left the tank as it was.

Today, I got another betta and I'm trying to get the tank ready for him. It has a bunch of gunk in the water, and I'm boiling the gravel and decorations.

My question is: How should I clean the tank itself? Should I use bleach, and if so, how much? If I do, how many times should I rinse the tank to make sure it's absolutely safe? Can I forget the bleach and just use water?

Tony G.

Usually warm water will do the trick. Its good you're boiling your gravel/deco. get rid of the gunky water, we dont want that haha. If you are going to use bleach you have to consider one things,
if your tank is acrilic youll need to do a smaller dose of bleach. I would let your tank run for a couple of days. Do you know if you lost your cycle?

Titi

I need to put the betta in today, so no bleach? I don't have time to let the tank sit or run.

I definitely lost the cycle, but I'll put in some spare filter media from my other tank when I add the betta.

aquarist48

Good morning. I vote for NO bleach. Just a good rinse with hot water should be fine, no soap of course. Great idea to seed the tank with used filter media. Have fun. Hope you can share some pictures sometime of your new addition.

Titi

I'll go with the hot water rinse. Thanks for the help!

Lucy

I'm sorry to hear you lost your betta. Do you know how he died? If it was some type of illness, you might want to consider sterlizing it.
It wouldn't take long to bleach a tank. Fill it with 19 parts water to 1 part bleach. Rinse until you can no longer smell bleach. Re-fill it with water OD'd with dechlorinator let that sit for a little while. Empty and refill with fresh dechlorinator. You should be all set to add the new betta in your life

Tony G.

also since your tank isnt cycled i would add some TSS (tetra safe start) so when yous tart getting ammonia it wont kill your betta. the tank will eventually cycle and it wont harm the betta. Check to see if your local PS or LFS has any TSS.