fish tank cleaning

[mhsrunner]

i have a tank im going to be putting some oscars in that was originally used for turtles. im worried that nitrogen and general dirtiness is going to be in the sealant, and want to know the best way to clean the tank. would light bleach w/ water be a good bet or just really hot water or something else? thanks

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[muzixman]

I hope someone will come and answer this. I'm getting a 55 gal. plus that had blue gills,bass and some other fresh water fish in it and was wondering about parasites and stuff like that? I want to go with tropical fish.

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[natas]

I always do light bleach with water and soak over night when changing. I did this when I converted a salt to a fresh

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[Future_herp.]

One of my freshwater books says a 19:1 water to bleach solution with a thorough rinse after. It also says that you can do this too: rinse and let air dry, then rinse and dry it with a clean towel.

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[Lfsabch]

if u use bleach use a little extra water conditioner and a whole lot of rinsing

in reality just use hot water, there will be nothing toxic trapped in the sealant, mind you unless chemicals had been used in the tank or something like that

as for parasites they need a host to live and for eggs the hot water will deal with them, worst case medicate the empty tank first then do water change and use activated carbon to absorb the left over medication

[Ratsicles]

A bleach water solution is usually recommended ... unscented bleach is 100% chlorine and can easily be neutralized with chlor-out or something of that nature.

Parasites and disease can live on the glass or in the gravel while it is still wet/moist. I normally remove all decorations and gravel and bake them at 200 degrees for about an hour. This only works with wood, rock, or ceramic.

Everything is allowed to thoroughly dry before cleaning ... this seems to make it alot easier to remove algae and kill off parasites/diseases.

Unless the sealant is chipped/has chunks missing and has turned green you will be pretty ok with just a bleach water wipedown.

On my 50g turtle tank when they were sent back to their owners the sealant had been overrun with algae ... I didnt want to re-silicone the whoile tank so I turned it into a rat cage.

Bryan

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