ruthiesmom

Santa came early,
Just walked outside and found 20 gal tank,pump, filter,and heater all used. With a note from neighbor that says merry x-mas. Can all of this stuff be reused? If so how should I clean everything? It looks as though it has been in storage for sometime. I know the tank and heater can be reused but not sure abot the filter/pump. Looks like We will be doing another tank.Now at least I have the knowledge ahead of time to clean, cycle and have heathy fishes.
Thanks in advance
Tina

Lucy

Merry Christmas indeed!
How nice of that neighbor.

The tank can be sterilized using 19 parts water to 1 part bleach. You can put the heater in the tank (if it's the submersible kind) Rinse until you can no longer smell the bleach then OD it with dechlorinated water.

I've never sterilized a large filter. I'm thinking you can run it while the tank is filled with bleach water. Rinse as above then run it for a long time in the OD'd water.

You might want to wait for others to respond about the filter.

Good luuck.

ruthiesmom

Thanks Lucy,
I will wiat and see what else I can learn. I still have to figeure out were I will be putting up tank. So just trying to get ideas and info. I was looking at the pump/filter and it looks pretty hosed. I may just get a new set up for that.
Tina

Lucy

Your welcome.
It might be a good idea to test the heater, it would be terrible to find out it didn't work properly after you get fish.

catbtony

All of my tanks; 10 total-7 running-All given to me-all pretty dirty, caked with unknown stuff, one tank and filter had lots of chicken poop dried in it-yummy......I cleaned everyone the same way and never had a problem:
plain-old hot water and elbow greese-I never use bleach because it can melt the seals and anything rubber if you do not dilute it right....
first- I set the tanks up outside on level ground and fill with water to check for leaks-and go to town scubbing it inside and out, I even let one soak for a while but this was during warm weather, I wouldn't do this in cold weather-could freeze and break
check all the seals to make sure they are intact and not crumbling-if so I would re-seal with aquarium safe silicone-wait for it to cure-
then in the cleaned tank I would re-fill it; then- attach the now scrubbed filter and start it up-checking for leaks, overflow, if working right etc...on some filters you have moving part that need to be oiled/lubed if they are real old/dry-I use vasiline or anything aquarium safe would work-Before I add any gravel-I set my tank up full of water and pump running for a few days just to make sure everything is okay before I invest more time and money. Remember never try to move a tank with water in it-it can twist and crack a seal-always best to move any tank with 2 people. Good luck