How do you clean a 250 gallon water container that's been used for baby oil?

[robinsnestmh2]

There is a gentleman that's selling his 259 gallon container, that he used for baby oil. Is there anyway this container can be cleaned for my water changes?

[jmf3460]

citric acid? like what they use in the food and bev industry

[kris2341]

Baby oil is essentially mineral oil and is pretty much non toxic. The only risk is probably the fragrance additive if it has one. Use any reasonable means to clean it but I do not see any need to go overboard. It IS baby oil so I figure overprotective moms would have several people's heads on pikes if it was even slightly toxic.

Dish soap+water to get rid of most of the oil, rinse, then the citric acid Jacklyn mentioned sounds great to get into the plastic pores.

[jsullins]

Baby oil is essentially mineral oil and is pretty much non toxic. The only risk is probably the fragrance additive if it has one. Use any reasonable means to clean it but I do not see any need to go overboard. It IS baby oil so I figure overprotective moms would have several people's heads on pikes if it was even slightly toxic.

Dish soap+water to get rid of most of the oil, rinse, then the citric acid Jacklyn mentioned sounds great to get into the plastic pores.
Agree with the dish soap, a bottle of dawn should do the trick.

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Kris,
especially California Soccor Moms. If it's safe enough for Jr's pompi, then in a highly diluted form (sic.. slight residue traces), surely it's safe for aquarium use.

[lksdrinker]

Wow....thats a lot of baby oil! Was this "gentleman" doing some not so gentlemanly things with that tub?

anyway, back on topic......I'd use some dish soap in an effort to remove the oil and then rinse, rinse rinse, and rinse again a few more times!

[boonseong]

On the topic of dish soap, if you know someone who has membership to costco, the dawn detergent from costco, I think it's goes by dawn power plus professional is the best dish soap I ever used. I will not go back to any other kind of dishsoap

[Pardal]

Robin
I saw this thread and was curious looking for some new way to learn how to clean tanks .
IMHO I will stay away from the soap no matter what type it is ; it will be always dangerous to the fish and hard to get rid off you will have to rinse for ever.
I will use plain salt with water to a consistence of a paste spread it out all over the interior walls and bottom and let it absorber the grease over night and rinse well , then I will use a mixture of salt and baking soda in the same consistence of a paste over night again and rinse wash through the next day, I will do a third run of the salt baking soda paste but this time I will pour vinegar this will react and create a foam by the way it is the best natural "drano" but that is another topic.
Then I will use vinegar water 50/50 and will clean the whole interior again. Do all of this outdoors.
I will rinse very well and let it dry , you can repeat this process as many times as you want, and test the tank water later with some feeder fish before use it in your discus.

[DonMD]

Steam clean it?

[Pardal]

Steam clean it?

Sounds like a really good idea , will wash out any reminance of oil the natural way . I will use it at the end though just in case the steam spread the oil around.

[Twistofer]

Dish soap is really not hard to get rid of. But, to remove oil based products you need both something that is hydrophilic (water loving) and hydrophobic (water hating), hence soap. You can also use a solution of ammonia, ethyl alcohol and water (2:3:7), which is essentially a home made glass cleaner. You can look for "green" or biodegradable detergents as well. My favorite rinse for fishtanks is a solution of 4:1 vinegar and alcohol then diluted 1:1 with water. It leaves your glass sparkling clean without and residue.

[DonMD]

My favorite rinse for fishtanks is a solution of 4:1 vinegar and alcohol then diluted 1:1 with water. It leaves your glass sparkling clean without and residue.

Hm, sounds like it might work for shower doors . . . Would the vinegar be white vinegar, and the alcohol rubbing alcohol?

[nc0gnet0]

Fill the container, let it sit, 99% of the oil should come to the top. Slowly continue to fill to overflow and let the oil overflow out. Potassium Permanganate might help break it down, but I am not sure how it reacts to baby oil.

[brewmaster15]

Bleach may work.I think it may cause the oil to rise the top...

[Twistofer]

Hm, sounds like it might work for shower doors . . . Would the vinegar be white vinegar, and the alcohol rubbing alcohol?

Vinegar -- White Distilled Vinegar

Alcohol -- Ethyl Alcohol (Ethanol) Don't use Rubbing Alcohol (Isopropyl Alcohol) which is toxic. I have used denatured alcohol which contains a small amount of methyl alcohol along with the ethyl alcohol. Many of you know Ethyl as Grain Alcohol (aka Everclear).

And yes, it works well for shower doors, windows (not PC, nothing works with Windows :) ), etc.

[Twistofer]

Bleach may work.I think it may cause the oil to rise the top...


To clean oil, you need an organic solvent. Alcohols work because they have both an organic component (methyl, ethyl, propyl, etc.) and the -OH component which makes it miscible with water. That's why I recommend the vinegar (acetic acid), ethyl alcohol and water mixture. It's safe to most animals. The other alcohols are toxic.

Ideally and if you want to take a chance, get acetone and thoroughly soak several cotton towels with it. Mind you, do not do this without adequate ventilation, preferably out doors. Carefully wipe down the inside of the tank until the oil film is gone. Most modern GLASS tanks can withstand acetone. Many plastics are resistant to it too. Silicone is inert, so the acetone should not break down any seals. However, rubber and acetone often do NOT play well together.

[nc0gnet0]

there is no way to get inside a 275 gallon tote to wipe it down. If your going to try a soap then your best be would be a drive through self serve car wash with a good pressure washer, and when finished rinse rinse rinse.

[nc0gnet0]

I am assuming the tote looks something like this:

http://auction.repocast.com/details.cfm?ID=2105022#

[Twistofer]

there is no way to get inside a 275 gallon tote to wipe it down. If your going to try a soap then your best be would be a drive through self serve car wash with a good pressure washer, and when finished rinse rinse rinse.


I am assuming the tote looks something like this:

http://auction.repocast.com/details.cfm?ID=2105022#

Sorry...I got side tracked with the acetone thing. :blushing: :embarrassed:

I'll call it a day, but you might still think about the alcohol:vinegar:water rinse after washing the container with some type of biodegradable detergent and rinse, rinse, rinse.