Sterilizing a tank

[Celura]

As most of you know, I lost Sushi last week. I want to move Alex into his 2g tank, and found on another Betta site some info on sterilization. So, I threw out all the decor and washed, washed, WASHED this tank. I then soaked it in bleach water for two days. Then I washed it again. Then I soaked it in salt water for a day to draw out the bleach. Then I washed it a whole lot more. Whew!

Now it's set up with new gravel and a filter on it with fresh media. I've added NovAqua and AmQuel. I have well water (not city water) which runs through a water softener. I also added a bit of Cycle. The Ph was at 7.6, with a Nitrate and Ammonia reading both of 0.

How long should I let this tank cycle before adding Alex? Are there any steps I missed? Input is greatly appreciated. I want Alex to be happy and healthy in his new home. :)

[Aquarius0015]

If you have well water, why did you add water conditioner?

[Celura]

Because I was told to by many others. Is that not correct?

[kveeti]

You only need to add water conditioners if your water contains chlorine or chloramines. Also, forget the product named ‘Cycle’, it is useless.

If everything is sterilized/new, then you are starting from scratch. It doesn’t matter how long you let the tank sit, you are just aging it, not cycling it. The cycle will not begin until there is an ammonia source; unless I missed something, you are not adding that. Is Alex’s current home cycled? If you put the gravel/decorations from his old home into the new one, there should be some nitrifying bacteria already to support him. Additionally, you can put some used filter media from your friend’s tank’s filter into Alex’s new one; or run some media from Alex’s filter in your friend’s filter for a week or two.

[Celura]

I did what was recommended for sterilization by what I read at Bettatalk.com, which was the bleach and salt route. She mentioned using Cycle and letting the tank run filtered for a few days. I guess this is bad information? Here is the article from Bettatalk:

"HOW TO SANITIZE A JAR OR TANK THAT HOSTED A SICK BETTA:

Soak empty jar & fishnet, in a mixture of tap water and Clorox (1 part Clorox to 20 parts water ). CLOROX KILLS BETTAS!!! So OBVIOUSLY never ever let it come into contact with your fish! Only soak objects in the mixture, not the sick bettas!! (DUH!). You should let the stuff soak for about one hour. Then you should RINSE RINSE RINSE and RINSE again. Wipe dry with a paper towel, and the jar is as good as new. Nothing can survive the hour long Clorox/water dip treatment! Hehehehehe.

If a whole tank is infected badly, you might want to tear it down. Move all fishies to new quarters. Empty contaminated tank. Throw away any LIVE plants. Empty all rocks and gravel. The tank should be filled with water and Clorox should be added (same proportion as above). Throw in there the filter (Throw away all the filtering media before soaking filters), heater, thermometer, any plastic plants, anything plastic. Let it soak for a few hours. Then empty and rinse rinse rinse etc… ROCKS AND GRAVEL cannot be soaked in Clorox as they will absorb it and then probably poison your fish. I put the gravel and rocks in a tray and bake them in my oven at 450F for about an hour. Kills everything. Then let them cool off and put them back in your tank (AFTER YOU HAVE RINSED TANK FROM THE CLOROX/WATER MIXTURE). Put brand new filtering media in your filter, and put your tank back together, fill with water and let it run for a few days before adding bettas to it. I recommend using “CYCLE” which helps reintroduce the nitrobacter which are necessary to your tank’s filtration.

WARNING! Chlorox may leave residue in your tank's silicone. If you are bleaching an acrylic tank, the acrylic walls will absorb some chlorox and later spew it back into the water :((. What to do then? After rinsing, fill again with water and add A LOT of rock salt. Salt will draw chlorox back out. Then you can empty tank again, rinse and set it up safely. Another good trick to use in conjunction with salt is direct sunlight. Sunlight will neutralize bleach so if you can, leave your tank/jars out in the sun for a day and let them get a good tan LOL. All bleach will be gone, poof, and bettas shall be safe and happy :)."

Alex's current home doesn't have a filter. Sushi's old home did, but Sushi died of illness. I have added Alex's gravel and his plant to Sushi's sterilized tank and have been running the cleaned filter with new media in the tank since Sunday. Again, Alex didn't have a filter.

Am I safe to assume that I can add Alex to the old tank now, or is there something else I need to do?

[anonapersona]

be sure to scrub the filter well, that dead bacteria will create a heck of an ammonia spike if not removed

[Celura]

Thank you, I did. Hot hot HOT water and lots of toothbrush action. :D

[kveeti]

You can do one of two things now.

Do a fishless cycle (read up on that), it can take about 6 weeks.

Or, add Alex now and do daily water tests, changing water if your test kits detect ammonia or nitrIte. I understand Alex does not currently have a filter, but if you have already switched Alex’s gravel over and it is sitting in the new tank, the nitrifying bacteria that may have been on it will die off without an ammonia source.

Some people continue to believe in the product ‘Cycle’. I used to as well, until I learned better here. From what I understand, it is all right if it is FRESH, but as there is no expiry date on the bottles, you honestly don’t know what you are getting. If it is not fresh, any nitrifying bacteria that “may” have been in there will certainly die off without oxygen and a source of food – in that case, adding it will do more harm than good. There is a product called Bio-Spira which is kept refrigerated and has an expiry date which reportedly actually works.