starting over...

[lizvetica]

hi all,
whats the best way to restart an old aquarium?
i have a 12 gal that i'd like to start over again.
whats the best way to clean the old tank, and then what are the recommended procedures to prepping my old aquarium for new fish?
thanks!

 

[SnakeIce]

depends on how long it has been since you had water/fish in it...
you could use vinegar to clean the scale off of the glass and rinse well if it has been a while go ahead and rinse the gravel but if your fish just departed you can save some of the top gravel in a bucket with water from the tank and use that to seed the tank when you set it back up... at any rate you probably should do a fishless cycle to make things all happy for fish again

 

[val]

I use a heavy salt and water concentration. The salt is not a cleaning agent, but it does provide a bit of abrasion for the tank.

If you tank has been sitting around for a while, fill it with water and set on a level space for a couple of days to see if there are leaks...

Val