The Puffer Forum

Hi All

As the title suggests, Is there any good ways of sterilising a Tank?

I heard of Sloshing boiling water around about 10 times to kill any bacteria, also heard of steam cleaning them.

Any suggestions other than chemicals unless there are some safe ones out there on the market.

Thanks

Oh I did do a search to see if someone else had posted something like this but nothing came up.

I'd be afraid to use anything that wasn't fish-safe in case some residue remains behind. I really can't think of anything that comes to mind, except vinegar and I don't think that would really be useful against bacteria.

Was this a tank that housed a fish that was ill?

schismy007 wrote:I'd be afraid to use anything that wasn't fish-safe in case some residue remains behind. I really can't think of anything that comes to mind, except vinegar and I don't think that would really be useful against bacteria.

Was this a tank that housed a fish that was ill?

Hi schismy

No I have just brought the tank of a mate whos fish were all live and kicking, but he's moved to a smaller house so i brought it off him, dont know what im going to use it for yet and just to make sure there nothing nasty lurking wanted to sterilise it just to make sure.

Have heard of using vinegar but didnt think it would help that much?
Thanks for reply

Vinegar is good. You can also use OxyClean, the laundry detergent powder. Try to avoid bleach. It's hard to rinse off completely, and even the tiniest traces can be extremely dangerous.

LOL, I'd heard that boiling water was bad to use for cleaning (something about the silicone??), so I googled it and found this "gem" on the website

http://www.associatedcontent.com/articl ... arium.html

"If you have an aquarium you are going to have to clean it, at least, every two months. When cleaning it you must do so thoroughly. It will take about a couple of hours, but once done, you'll have a spic and span clean aquarium. Place your fish in a bowl with water while you clean."
and
"Remove all aquarium accessories and dump the sand in the garbage. "

Good grief!!! I've been doing it wrong all these years!


Carmen

LilGreenPuffer wrote:Vinegar is good. You can also use OxyClean, the laundry detergent powder. Try to avoid bleach. It's hard to rinse off completely, and even the tiniest traces can be extremely dangerous.

Where do you get this information from?? I am curious. I have used bleach, 1 part bleach to 6 parts water on hospital tanks and equipment that needed to be disinfected and on plastic plants I rotate out to clean. I triple rinse and add declor to final rinse. I've never had a problem with it. Are you sure it's not safe??

I have used bleach in the past too and rinsed with a heavy dechlor solution. Using vinegar can weaken the silicone and so can using boiling water. With the boiling water you can also shatter the glass, it's not tempered for heat and I'd be real hesitant to do that. The safest I have heard is using OxyClean, the original formula. There is a new formula out with detergents in it and even though I haven't heard anything bad about it, I don't think I'd use it.

I've also used a sea salt paste. Make it, scrub the sides gently and let it stand for a few hours, rinse, repeat, rinse and dry.

Oxyclean breakes down to oxygen & water, when it gets wet. It's hydrogen peroxide. Totally harmless & easily rinsed.

StormySkiez wrote:

LilGreenPuffer wrote:Vinegar is good. You can also use OxyClean, the laundry detergent powder. Try to avoid bleach. It's hard to rinse off completely, and even the tiniest traces can be extremely dangerous.

Where do you get this information from?? I am curious. I have used bleach, 1 part bleach to 6 parts water on hospital tanks and equipment that needed to be disinfected and on plastic plants I rotate out to clean. I triple rinse and add declor to final rinse. I've never had a problem with it. Are you sure it's not safe??

From Pufferpunk. And bleach is really good for getting things super-clean, but it only takes a little to cause damage. Not too long ago, there was a post on here from someone whose family used a rinsed-out mop bucket that had had bleach in it to do a water change. There was probably more than a trace amount, but they thought it was clean... The fish were really, really, really sick.

I used to use bleach until I found out about Oxyclean. I used a 50/50 solution, soaked overnight, then rinse, rinse, rinse & again overnight with dechlor. With Oxyclean, one rinse & your done!