View Full Version : Cleaning the "white stuff" of my "new" used tank.
My neighbor just _gave_ me a 50 gallon tank, stand, hood, 40w light strip, emperor 400 filter and heater!
It was an african cichlid tank, so has been full of fairly hard water for about 4 years. It has a lot of white buildup on the filter and hood. I assume it is some sort of carbonate type mineral buildup. What is the best way to clean it up?
Right now, the tank is full to the top with a bleach solution to kill the algae and whatever else may have been lurking. I was thinking that tomorrow I would empty it and refill it with a strong vinegar solution (acidic) and soak the whitened items in there for a day or two.
Anyone have a good way to deal with this white stuff?
Tyler718
05-09-2003, 8:58 PM
That is exactly how I cleaned the 70g I got used from a friend. The only thing different was that I used a product called Seri-Clean also. It worked good to.
Dave
wetmanNY
05-09-2003, 11:15 PM
Or Lime-Away. --they're all acids that disssolve the carbonates.
jiggerpolebill
05-10-2003, 12:41 AM
its funny this came up because i was just going to post this same question this weekend.
ok. so thats what to do with an empty tank, but what about ones that are currently in use? i have 1 tank that is really getting it at the top around the filter and heater and the glass on the sides. i have a magnetic algae scraper, but its not really cutting it. any ideas??(dont mean to hijack)
Tyler718
05-10-2003, 1:13 PM
Originally posted by jiggerpolebill
.....but what about ones that are currently in use? i have 1 tank that is really getting it at the top around the filter and heater and the glass on the sides. i have a magnetic algae scraper, but its not really cutting it. any ideas??(dont mean to hijack)
I use a razor blade to scrape it when it gets real bad on mine. When I have fish in the tank I don't use any chemicals so I'm no help there.
Dave
thom336
05-10-2003, 1:18 PM
Im suprised no1 has mentioned so far that that bleach is gonna kill your fish!
Tyler718
05-10-2003, 1:30 PM
Originally posted by thom336
Im suprised no1 has mentioned so far that that bleach is gonna kill your fish!
From how I read it there are no fish in the tank. rdmpe is cleaning it up real good to use. All that needs to be done when done is rinse real good and treat with a dechlorinator. One that also does chlromine also.
I have pulled decor out of tanks and let soak in a 19 : 1 solution of bleach and water. Rinse real good and use dechlorinator. It works real good for me when I need to do it for real bad algae blooms.
Dave
No fish would live for 5 minutes in that tank at the moment!
The soak in half water / half vinegar overnight in a bucket did the trick for the miscellaneous parts that were covered with mineral deposits. There were only slight traces of the buildup left, and those wiped off with a washcloth. I still have to do the tank hood, but it should work out the same way I assume.
thom336
05-11-2003, 8:20 AM
Yea, I kinda guessed no fish were in there! But you're gonna have to give it a real good wash out to remove all traces of the bleach.
Aderynglas
05-11-2003, 5:50 PM
Personally I would be concerned that the silicon sealant would absorb the chlorine and release it into the tank later. Doesn't this happen??
Turin Turambar
05-11-2003, 6:25 PM
I clean the upper part of the tank with strong 17-18% HCl acid used for cleaning the toilets and other. I do that every year or so... depending on the tartar concentrate of your water. There is no danger to the fish, because I do that when doing the water changes when water level is very lowered.
I *damp* the tissue with acid and then clean the glass. Be careful not to touch the water in any way.
Immediately after that I clean the area with another tissue damped with water. I do that two times.
If you are not sure if you cleaned all the acid, you can test it by yourself, using the tongue. Don't panic, I'm not mad. ;)
After cleaning use another damp tissue, clean the glass and lick it. If it is still acidic, then you have to wipe some more. IT WILL NOT burn up your tongue!
Answer to the other question - sillicione cannot chemically absorb the chlorine or anything.
The tank will actually be sitting empty for a while. I doubt I'll have fish in it for 2 or 3 weeks plus cycle time. The glass on the hood did not come out that great. It soaked in straight vinegar over night, but it is still cloudy. I also tried a razor blade scraper but that made no difference. I think that the glass is etched.
On a similar note, I soaked the emperor 400 filter housing completely submerged under vinegar water overnight and it came out looking like new. It seems that the epoxy sealed motor does not suffer from being submerged. I suspected that it would be fine since that is also how powerhead motors are sealed. AFAIK there are no actual moving parts in the "motor", just induction coils.
GDominy
05-12-2003, 5:56 PM
Originally posted by thom336
Yea, I kinda guessed no fish were in there! But you're gonna have to give it a real good wash out to remove all traces of the bleach.
That depends, if its Chlorine bleach then you can simply pour a metric crapload of dechlorinator in there after you have washed it out and rinsed a few times. This is how I clean any secondhand tanks I end up getting, as well as my micron filter cartidges and my python from time to time.
cichlidgirl57
05-12-2003, 6:34 PM
I work for a glass company. So when using a razor blade, make sure the glass is wet that way you will not scratch the glass.