furryfrog02

I am picking up my free 50g tank(used for saltwater) in a couple of hours and have decided that I just don't have the time or the experience yet to maintain a saltwater aquarium set up just yet. SOOOO I need to clean the tank out. I was wondering what would be the best method to clean it out with. I've been reading about a bleach/water solution and a vinegar/water solution. Would one work better than the other? Also - would I be able to keep any of the material it is coming with - filters, fake plants, rocks, etc... It is a sand bottom so I won't be keeping that. Just wondering... Thanks for any help!

agabr123

congrats!

i use a 19 part water 1 part bleach mixture on all my tanks (even the ones i buy brand new). generally what i do depending on the size of the tank is fill it up completely (with the bleach/water mixture) either in the bathtub/shower or outside and i fill it very slowly so i can check for leaks. i let that sit for 24 hours (again to check for leaks), then dump out the water, and fill the tank back up with JUST water (no bleach) and rinse it very, very well. then i put the tank wherever it's going to be permanently, fill it very slowly again with lots of dechlorinator (to get rid of any bleach that may have been leftover).

you can definitely keep the other stuff that comes with it, i'd just either bleach or boil it, whichever is possible. for the filter, i would run it on the tank (without any filter media inside it) when you're bleaching the tank, and run it again when you're rinsing, and again when you fill with dechlorinator.

furryfrog02

Thanks for the tip. I gave it a go but I think it is a lost cause... The guy who gave us the tank had told us that it "had a bit of algae". When we arrived at his house we couldn't see through the glass it was so caked with black, purple, and green algae. We still took it though. The filters, powerheads, and protein skimmer were so clogged with algae that they weren't salvageable. The hoods and lighting set up was so caked with salt and it was all in the electrical parts that I didn't feel safe plugging it in. I put the bleach in the tank and started scrubbing away the algae. After the algae was gone we noticed that the glass was covered with foggy residue and there were tons of tiny scratches all over the glass.

After that we looked at getting the parts for everything we needed to replace and it came out to $175ish....we could get a 55g tank set up with everything for $201 brand new at wal-mart.

So yeah....I don't think it is worth saving at this point. I guess that's what you get when you get something for free....

I attached a picture so you can see what I am talking about. I have never seen anything so filthy in my life. The guy said there were like 3 or 4 fish. We only found 1 and "part" of another that was floating on top...Just incredible...

Attached Images

386224340_1335575171_0.jpeg (28.3 KB, 18 views)

agabr123

wow....yeah that's pretty unfortunate....it MIGHT be able to be salvaged but it's going to be a lot of work for you