Sterilizing Substrate And Hardscape???

HI all,

I've had some major trouble over the last several months with my 20 gallon long planted tank. The safest thing for me to start fresh, but I'd like to preserve what I can.

The tank is modified to be an all in one closed system, so no external filter. I know I can clean the tank, pump, and heater with a bleach bath or three. I'll replace the hoses and media, but is there a safe way to sterilize the sand and wood? I'm reluctant to boil the wood as it is attached to pieces of slate, and boiling rocks makes me nervous. Should I just replace it all?

 

The last time I had an issue like that, I was told to wash the substrate with tap water (ours has chloramine) to kill anything that might be in it, and put everything else in a bucket/spare tank and treat it with Metroplex.

When I boiled my wood (when new) I was able to remove the screws that held the skate onto the base.

 

HI all,

I've had some major trouble over the last several months with my 20 gallon long planted tank. The safest thing for me to start fresh, but I'd like to preserve what I can.

The tank is modified to be an all in one closed system, so no external filter. I know I can clean the tank, pump, and heater with a bleach bath or three. I'll replace the hoses and media, but is there a safe way to sterilize the sand and wood? I'm reluctant to boil the wood as it is attached to pieces of slate, and boiling rocks makes me nervous. Should I just replace it all?

I took a bucket of dechlorinated water and washed my sand and it was fine for my biocube!

 

Don't boil the rock. It made me really nervous so what I did, and others have done this, was I put the rocks in a 5 gallon bucket in a warm room so the rocks weren't cold, and then boiled a pot of water and poured it over it. I then let it sit until the water cooled off, then dumped the water off, rinsed and scrubbed the rocks again with tap water, and then did again. I did it three times total to be on the safe side. You could do the same thing with the driftwood.

The sand you could also rinse really well with tap and then pour boiling water over it and let it sit.

 

Thanks everyone! I'm still unsure which direction I'm taking with 'cleaning' the tank as a whole, but I appreciate all the input.

Culprit, still hope to get some of that flame moss someday. I think I'll get a tiny start on things by getting rid of a whole bunch of java moss tonight. Maybe I'll find some good new stone tomorrow too! Trying to look forward to a new scape now...

 

In saying that, I have boiled rocks for over 10 years (have since stopped) but I believe exploding rocks will only be for porous or gaseous rocks, like lava. I think rocks like slate should be fine to boil, and you shouldn't run into problems.

Maybe boil the wood piece while securing the rock section so its mostly out of the water? Leaving it in the sun will help as well, since the UV and heat will kill most organisms.

 

UV and heat you say??? Yep, always an option here in South Florida. It's cold as heck in most of the US, but a sunny 77°F here today. I think I'll go with the bucket method, then leave the stuff to dry and sit in the sun all afternoon for good measure.