I recently bought a tank that the old owner cleaned out with Lysol and he didn't tell me until after I had bought it. I know the residue of even slight chemicals left from it will kill my fish, and I know I can't use soap. Mwhat is the best way I can clean this tank out? It's a 120 gallon tank.
How to clean out Lysol ?
- Thread starter BarbaraClark
- Start date
I think I would just fill it up with water and drain it a few times. I would think that if you can't smell anything you should be fine. But wait and see what others say here.
I would use potent salt water on a clean rag and scrub the inside with it, just make sure the salt is disolved in the water or it will scratch the glass..., rinse with more salt water, then with clean water from a hose or something for several minutes, and let dry out in the sun.
lysol is mainly alcohol, so the salt water method sounds like it will work well, i would fill and drain as much as you can making sure to scrub off any residue with a soft sponge, ie no abrasive part. just scrub it down rinse and repeat.
hmm. Situation may be worse than indicated. Per wiki: The active ingredient in many of the Lysol products is benzalkonium chloride.[1] This ingredient is highly toxic to fish (LC50 = 280 μg ai/L), very highly toxic to aquatic invertebrates (LC50 = 5.9 μg ai/L), moderately toxic to birds (LD[SIZE=-1]50[/SIZE] = 136 mg/kg-bw), and slightly toxic ("safe") to mammals (LD50 = 430 mg/kg-bw).[2]
chemistry is not my field. I don't know if a going-over (with the sponge) with Prime would be of benefit or if filling the tank and overdosing with it would help? Couldn't hurt in any event, aside from the expense.
Give particular, if gentle, attention to seams and corners as those would be where the chemical or residues would be most likely to concentrate. Hope somebody with greater expertise in such matters will chime in. 
chemistry is not my field. I don't know if a going-over (with the sponge) with Prime would be of benefit or if filling the tank and overdosing with it would help? Couldn't hurt in any event, aside from the expense.
Give particular, if gentle, attention to seams and corners as those would be where the chemical or residues would be most likely to concentrate. Hope somebody with greater expertise in such matters will chime in. I think I am going to try vinegar AND salt water instead of bleach. I've been told a couple times to use bleach, but I'd rather not mix chemicals and play laboratory with my aquarium...either way, this is ****ty and I need to figure it out. This guy so nicely forgot to tell us until after he sold it to us. Also, it's been sitting dry for about 3 months since t was cleaned with Lysol. Could it have maybe dried out by now?
Use a bunch of salt and vinegar, wait a bit, drain and fill the tank a million times and you're set. Make sure the tank is completely dry for a while before doing anything with it. It'll kill the rest of whatever's still in there.
:cheers:
:cheers:
You could clean it the best you can and then run an extra filter with carbon on it to help absorb any chemical left over.
The sw and vinegar and also the carbon are all good ideas. You can also use MR Clean Magic Erasers while the tank is full of water (provided it's not acrylic) to scrub the sides and help absorb any of the residual residue off of the tank. I use those to clean my hard to scrape green spot algae, but I bet it would also pick up the lysol residue. Either way, as long as you clean it well I think you will be fine. I don't think the tank is doomed or anything.
ps - the magic erasers don't have any chemicals in them.
ps - the magic erasers don't have any chemicals in them.