The Puffer Forum

I just bought a 30 gallon aquarium second hand. I was wondering how I should go about disinfecting it?

Water and 10% bleach will do it. Rinse well. I soak in declor after a good rinsing to make sure all the clorine is removed.

Welcome to the site .

that works but i also like to rinse with a paper towel and some vinegar after the bleach and before the dechlor cus its all natural and a really good disinfeting agent.

Thank you so much, I'll do that!

Also a good idea seeing how it's a used tank is make sure the silicone all looks good and fill the tank up outside and let sit for a couple days to make sure there are no leaks. Better safe than sorry

taureandragon76 wrote:Also a good idea seeing how it's a used tank is make sure the silicone all looks good and fill the tank up outside and let sit for a couple days to make sure there are no leaks. Better safe than sorry

definitly! i was assuming it holds water but if you havnt then definitly make sure it holds water, i bought my 29 gallon and it didnt hold water so i had to re-silicone it. and no worries cus it is such an easy thing to do so if it does leak a little then just ask cus i can help with re sealing a tank.

Good idea! I would hate to set it all up with sand and decorations and have to start all over again!

You can also use OxyClean to clean up an old tank.

I find phosphoric acid and citric acid are great for this task, and unlike some alkaline products (some bleaches contain silicates which can stain glass), they rinse off a hell of as lot easier