froggypat

Hi we just had new people move next door about a month ago anyway in vited them over for dinner he has a 50 gal tank that hes going to set up, but he has 3 ten gals that he hasnt used in 5 years hes keeping 1 but asked me if I wanted the other two so I said sure.He brought them over and all I have to buy is the filters. My question is they havre been sitting for about 5 years so how should I clean them they have alot of lime build up. ohh my Beta and 2 frogs are going to be so happy sorry if post is to long.

tkfury

No post is ever too long ^_~

I can't say for sure but I believe you can use bleach to try and get rid of the lime but then you have to be very careful and make sure you rinise it a few times. I've been told and have used bleach to clean one of my 10g that was out in the garage for awhile and was once washed with soap (no deaths and its been running for a few months now).

KittieKat

i wouldnt use bleach but thats my opinion... i was told to use vineger if i need to get rid of any hard to remove build ups.. they also have aquarium cleaners but regardless of what u use...

Rinse it a lot!!!

susitna-flower

Vinegar! Use it full strength, sponge it on with a clean sponge/scratchpad. (the type of plastic scratch pad used on teflon) Let it set for 10 minutes and scrub it really well. This acid should work on the calcium build up just like it does in cleaning a coffee pot. Then rinse it thoroughly.

You can also clean with 100% ammonia, but don't use anything that is prepared for normal cleaning, with soaps, scents, or other additives as these are all harmful to fish. With 100% ammonia, any left in the tank after cleaning and rinsing, will just be used in the cycle process. good score!

froggypat

Thanks everyone .

COBettaCouple

If you use bleach, use a 1 to 19 ratio of bleach to warm water. Rinse the tank really well after cleaning and heavily overdose the tap water dechlorinator when first setting the tank up to cycle it.