Disinfecting a "used" tank....

[GrayLadyPat]

I have some questions about disinfecting a used tank for discus QT use.

I found the perfect QT tank at a garage sale that a business aquaintance had. It has a HOB power filter, and a nice glass hood with LED bar. I plan to rid myself of the HOB and use new air pump/tubing/stones/sponges to cycle.

What's the most expedient way of disinfecting a used tank to get it prepared for use as a QT tank? Is the process the same for discus as other fish?

In the past, with "regular" community fish, I used the following process, and it worked well for me.
1. Almost boiling water to the brim slowly so as not to crack the glass or separate the sealant
2. let the water cool to a "safe" level to put my hands in and add a 1/4 cup of bleach for every 20 gallons
3. let it sit until room temp(also gives time to see if it leaks)
4. drain, scrub, rinse till my water bill tripled
5. drain again and soak up the rest with paper towels
6. let air dry for a few days until no moisture in the tank
7. dechlor and fill
8. cycle

would this work for discus?

(personal opinion alert:)
It would be great is someone could sticky the process for disinfecting a used tank for any use, inclucing discus. I did a search, and while there are a lot of threads on setting up a new tank, there's not much in the way of setting up a used tank.

[John_Nicholson]

I always just use bleach.

-john

[korbi_doc]

+1




I always just use bleach.

-john

[Wahter]

I like to use just bleach too. :)


Walter

[Skip]

Yikes! Almst Boiling water?

I would worried about seems..

But I have used bleach.. and rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle.. let air dry

[GrayLadyPat]

Yikes! Almst Boiling water?

I would worried about seems..

But I have used bleach.. and rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle.. let air dry

Well, yes... I have never had any problems with the seams. It might be overkill, but it does strip any of the dried-on gunk off the walls without having to resort to razor blades. Sometimes simple bleach and cool water won't cut it :D

[BODYDUB]

I use a bleach and water solution, then rinse the heck out of it before it dries.................

[papyol]

+1

X2

[Kal-El]

Well, yes... I have never had any problems with the seams. It might be overkill, but it does strip any of the dried-on gunk off the walls without having to resort to razor blades. Sometimes simple bleach and cool water won't cut it :D Boiling water??? I would worry about causing a crack using boiling water... You're lucky it hasn't crack on you.... pouring hot water on a cool surface of the tank will cause the glass to expand and probably crack... just like a glass heater that is left on out of the water hot and it comes in contact with water it will crack...

[DiscusLoverJeff]

I have seen people use boiling water before and some of there seams curl up and for that I would not advise.

[Bill63SG]

Yikes! Almst Boiling water?

I would worried about seems..

But I have used bleach.. and rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle.. let air dry

Same here,and when you fill,jst hit it with some de-chlor,like doing a wc.Never heard of the boiling thing.

[SMB2]

How long would a tank have to sit empty before you would say there could be no harmful organisms for fish? I mean all pathogens have a life cycle, so a tank that has been dormant for ?months? why wouldn't a fresh water rinse to be sure there are no chemicals etc suffice?

[dagray]

hit it with a bleach water mix 3:1 or 4:1 (3:1 if there is alot of algae and you are really concerned about any biologicals) using one part bleach for every three to four parts water. let sit, rinse, dry with paper towels, and then if you have any water spots hit it with white vinegar (soak newspaper or paper towell with vinegar and lay on the glass cover the paper towel in saran wrap to keep it wet) let sit for a couple hours hit with brush and razor blade, then rinse.

To dechlorinate afer the bleach rinse add 500mg of vitamin C to every 25 gallons (take the vitamin C tablet crush and add to 8oz of water to disolve the solids and pour into your tank, run an air stone for a few hours and you will have no chlorine residue from the bleach).

Dave

[Skip]

4:1..

so 4 gallons water.. to 1 gallon bleach?

[decoy50]

For Craig's List tanks, I use regular bleach(no scent) in a spray bottle and really soak the tank down with it. Rinse it really good outside. Fill the tank & add an extra cap of Prime. Stick a powerhead in ther or HOB filter to agitate the water - let it run a day or two. Drain & refill and you should be good to go.

[dagray]

4:1..

so 4 gallons water.. to 1 gallon bleach?

exactly. I do this on a smaller scale to wash power heads, tank decorations, syhpon tubes. I use four cups water to one cup bleach (this also works on bio-wheels or cloth filter cartriges such as the water polishing cartridge for the Marineland 350 canister filter just rinse well in dechlorinated or older tank water). I have some issues with BB algae and this mixture removes the algae well (I have to let soak, rinse and sometimes soak again). The manufacture of some of the filter cartriges recommend more bleach and less water (hence the 3:1 ratio of three parts water to one part bleach), but I try to use as little bleach as I can get by with.

Another method for sterilization if you aren't trying to remove algae or hard water/mineral deposits is a mixture of 3% hydrogen peroxide and water and let soak as the hydrogen peroxide will turn to water leaving no harmful residue (I am unsure of the ratio for this, but it is used to keep angel eggs free from fungus).

[otpi]

With all the talk about bleach (chlorine) and water changes, prime, aged water etc. for your discus I'm curious why nobody use ammonia? It's commonly used as a disinfectant, any residue should be dealt with by your filters. Boiling water sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. I cleaned my old tanks using regular dishwasher soap, scrubbies, warm water and elbow grease. If I felt disinfecting was necessary I'd wipe the tank with ammonia (or chlorine, but I think I prefer ammonia for fish tanks. Warning: Never mix the two).

[fredyx]

With all the talk about bleach (chlorine) and water changes, prime, aged water etc. for your discus I'm curious why nobody use ammonia? It's commonly used as a disinfectant, any residue should be dealt with by your filters. Boiling water sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. I cleaned my old tanks using regular dishwasher soap, scrubbies, warm water and elbow grease. If I felt disinfecting was necessary I'd wipe the tank with ammonia (or chlorine, but I think I prefer ammonia for fish tanks. Warning: Never mix the two).

Good point that of using ammonia... yeah if you mix bleach and ammonia you will create a fancy smoke :D

[dagray]

I think one of the main reasons for bleach is the way it eradicated algae. Whereas ammonia turns to nitrite and then turns to nitrate in the nitrification cycle which can actually feed an algae bloom (just a hypothosis here).

Dave

[Skip]

So in a 55g.. u add 40g of water and 10g bleach? That seems extreme

[Kal-El]

exactly. I do this on a smaller scale to wash power heads, tank decorations, syhpon tubes. I use four cups water to one cup bleach (this also works on bio-wheels or cloth filter cartriges such as the water polishing cartridge for the Marineland 350 canister filter just rinse well in dechlorinated or older tank water). I have some issues with BB algae and this mixture removes the algae well (I have to let soak, rinse and sometimes soak again). The manufacture of some of the filter cartriges recommend more bleach and less water (hence the 3:1 ratio of three parts water to one part bleach), but I try to use as little bleach as I can get by with.

Another method for sterilization if you aren't trying to remove algae or hard water/mineral deposits is a mixture of 3% hydrogen peroxide and water and let soak as the hydrogen peroxide will turn to water leaving no harmful residue (I am unsure of the ratio for this, but it is used to keep angel eggs free from fungus).

That's way too much bleach and not needed to disinfect a tank... 1:10 ratio is all that is really needed, as in 1 parts bleach to 10 parts water. Any more bleach is just wasting it IMO...

[dagray]

That's way too much bleach and not needed to disinfect a tank... 1:10 ratio is all that is really needed, as in 1 parts bleach to 10 parts water. Any more bleach is just wasting it IMO...

Thank you that is good to know as I was using the ratio of 4:1 suggested by Marineland to clean the filter parts (specifically their cloth filter cartridge and cloth bio-wheel). I may have to empty a tank and fill it with two gallon bleach and 18 gallon water and run it for a couple days to kill anything in the power filter, sponge filter, and any thing in the tank as I recieved a batch of unhealthy fish and put them in this 20 gallon bare bottom for quarantine (the fish did NOT come from any vendors here, and after fish arrived I found a thread here about that particular vendor).

Dave

[Bill63SG]

So in a 55g.. u add 40g of water and 10g bleach? That seems extreme

I put in roughly a half gallon in a 55 and if it came with a hob,let it run a couple of hours.Read somewhere too much bleach/too long can weaken the silicone.Also,dont bleach sponge filter,lol,turns them to jelly.Can do a dunk ans squeeze a couple of times then rinse.

[Skip]

bill.. i am with you.. something like that.. would sound as a better ratio

[Bill63SG]

Sometimes when I want to disinfect my python,Ill dump a1/2 gallon into a 5gal bucket and fill,then suck it out with the python,and the plastic gets warm.That high a ratio has got to affect the silicone.

[MSD]

Almost boiling water??? You are not making tea, warm water and salt to remove gunk is good then bleach to disinfect.

[otpi]

I think one of the main reasons for bleach is the way it eradicated algae. Whereas ammonia turns to nitrite and then turns to nitrate in the nitrification cycle which can actually feed an algae bloom (just a hypothosis here).

Dave

Ammonia is just as deadly to algae in the concentrations used for dissinfection. And there would be no more ammonia residue in the tank than there would be chlorine. The only difference is that if ammonia gets in your system your bio filter deals with. Whereas chlorine kills your filter. Both substances is lethal to fish in high enough concentrations, but most living organisms are better dealing with ammonia.

[dagray]

I just mixed 1/2 gallon bleach to two gallons water to disinfect syphon hose and dunk sponge filters from tank where I recently got diseased fish. I then proceeded to put this mix into the emptied out 20 gallon tank and fill the tank with unfiltered tap water at about 90 degree temp so I could let it run in the HOB filter and disinfect everything. I ended up pulling five gallons of water/bleach mix out of the 20 gallon due to excessive suds and replaced with tap water. I will continue to dilute until I am no longer in danger of having an overflow of suds on the floor.

Floor is Rhino brand laminate flooring that is very durable and some of the extra pieces that were the ends/scrap sat outside in the weather for a year without delamination (snow, rain, scorching desert heat, and everything in between).

Dave

[fredyx]

Another way to do it is filling an spray with a 1:10 bleach solution. You spray all the tank with that making sure to moist everything leave some minutes and re-apply. Finally dry with kitchen paper. I fill the tank with water add prime, empty it again and that's it.

[Discus novice]

I usually is salt, is safe to do so