embarassing mistake, I cleaned my tank with soap! What now?

[evident]

DISCLAIMER: NO FISH WERE HURT!


now that that's out of the way, here is backstory

i kept fish back in my childhood and stopped when i went to college. now i'm older and I got my fishtank on craigslist two years ago since i really missed having an aquarium. it brings back good memories of me and my father bonding and all that warm fuzzy stuff. It was a steal too. an AGA 45G breeder (36w x 24h x 12d) with hood, lighting, wooden stand and a marineland C350 brand new filter for $180!!!


but i have been moving around so i couldn't ever get to set it up. I finally settled into a location i'll be staying at for a while and decided to tackle the fish tank project. I sanded the stand, my fiance painted the stand to match our furniture, only thing i had to do was clean the 4+ yr old fish poop out of my dried out fish tank.

I filled it to the top with water and heres the bad part, i squirted some dawn in there too so i could scrub the glass insides. To my disgust after reading online on cleaning tanks rule #1 seems to NEVER EVER USE SOAP :uhoh: DOH! i shoulda read this before, but what's done is done. I rinsed the tank out several times draining the water w/ a shopvac and refilling to the top with my garden hose. I did this about 5 times and there seems to be no soap residue left.

my question is how can i be sure? Would using bleach and or vinegar at this point and scrubbing the inside glass ensure that i have no soap left over?

I'm in no rush to get fish in the tank so I am going to be extra thorough at this point to ensure that i set this thing up correctly! I also still need to purchase all the other accessories and kits that i'm still missing, but I'll start another thread on that topic!

 

[rockhoe14er]

rinse rinse rinse rinse rinse. then rinse again.

 

[MChorse13]

as long as no fish are in the tank its fine just rinse it really well

 

[knight4th]

rinse and run with fresh carbon for awhile and it will be fine

 

[ianab]

Like the folks are saying, rinse it LOTS.

Detergent dissolves just fine in water, so that's the best thing to get rid of it. Each time you rinse, 99% of it will be gone. Do that enough times, and you are safe again.

Personally I would take it outside, lay it on it's side and stick a lawn sprinkler in there for a few hours, but it's summer here, so that's more practical.

Then get it set up and cycled. Any tiny amount of detergent will actually get broken down by natural biological action in the tank, eventually.

Ian

 

[Mgamer20o0]

should be fine once you clean it out really well.

 

[Rbishop]

Not an issue at all....in fact, Dawn is used to clean the oil off most wildlife that gets covered in oil from spills. Rinse it out well and your good to go.

 

[verbal]

Like the folks are saying, rinse it LOTS.

Detergent dissolves just fine in water, so that's the best thing to get rid of it. Each time you rinse, 99% of it will be gone. Do that enough times, and you are safe again.

Personally I would take it outside, lay it on it's side and stick a lawn sprinkler in there for a few hours, but it's summer here, so that's more practical.

Then get it set up and cycled. Any tiny amount of detergent will actually get broken down by natural biological action in the tank, eventually.

Ian

If it will fit, you might try putting it in your shower.

 

[rufioman]

^if not the shower then I'd take it outside, tip it towards the wall, and blast that sucker clean with the hose on and off like 20 times for a few hours. Soap is nasty in tanks man, it's better to be safe than have dead fish lol.

 

[petluvr]

I use Dawn dish detergent in every tank that I break down and clean, as long as you rinse it well it's fine.