Yearly Tank Cleaning- The tearing down and building up.
Hi guys, this one day I was reading in my monthly Aquartist magizine, (Aquarium Fish International, ya gotta love it!) and i came across this one passage, which stated that it's a good idea once every year, to completely tear down your aquarium, in terms, empty the entire thing out, steralize everything, (nets, filter, aerobic grid, cartilage, heater decor, cups, airline tubing,etc.) Literally everything that has come in contact with the habitat. Then "rebuild" the tank as if your starting up a new tank.
And I figured, hey, it's a good idea, i mean like i already had FL and DS (may they rest in peace) die because of secondary infections from other past fish because i didn't steralize the tank good enough. (No wonder my fish keep getting Dropesy!)
So I want to end the Dropesy line right here and now, because im sick of seeing my fish suffer because of this horrible diesese. Problem is, how exactly do i steralize? I heard bleach is an option, but it's really risky and i want to stay as far away from it as possible. Please help, i mean, i keep finding pineconing and bloated fish because of lack of steralization. What have you found to be the best and effective way to steralize a tank without causing a secondaty infection to future fish?
Also, can i wash it and just leave it in the sun to dry, than wash it again, wipe it clean, and add water?
Thank you for all your help, any advice will help :)
Hi guys, this one day I was reading in my monthly Aquartist magizine, (Aquarium Fish International, ya gotta love it!) and i came across this one passage, which stated that it's a good idea once every year, to completely tear down your aquarium, in terms, empty the entire thing out, steralize everything, (nets, filter, aerobic grid, cartilage, heater decor, cups, airline tubing,etc.) Literally everything that has come in contact with the habitat. Then "rebuild" the tank as if your starting up a new tank.
And I figured, hey, it's a good idea, i mean like i already had FL and DS (may they rest in peace) die because of secondary infections from other past fish because i didn't steralize the tank good enough. (No wonder my fish keep getting Dropesy!)
So I want to end the Dropesy line right here and now, because im sick of seeing my fish suffer because of this horrible diesese. Problem is, how exactly do i steralize? I heard bleach is an option, but it's really risky and i want to stay as far away from it as possible. Please help, i mean, i keep finding pineconing and bloated fish because of lack of steralization. What have you found to be the best and effective way to steralize a tank without causing a secondaty infection to future fish?
Also, can i wash it and just leave it in the sun to dry, than wash it again, wipe it clean, and add water?
Thank you for all your help, any advice will help :)
I would use bleach (1 part bleach 9 parts water) to sterilize everything. I also like to fill up the entire tank using the mixture and set everything inside to soak for about ten minutes. Rinse everything out extremely well afterwards (scrub the insides of the tank too!) with plain water and allow to air dry. After it's done air drying, rinse out again thoroughly and then fill up the fish tank. Be sure to use a dechlorinator etc etc =P I've always done my yearly cleanouts this way with my previous fish tanks and have never had a problem.
Unfortunately, since I moved away from Iowa to Arizona for school, I couldn't bring my 55 gallon tank with me so I had to sell everything.
Good luck!
EDIT: Do not use the gel bleach!! No detergents, just plain good ol' fashioned bleach.
As for aerobic grids and filter cartileges, and everything besides the tank, should i have a bucket of the solution and just put everything in to soak for ten minutes, than clean thouroughly? correct? I don't need bleach poisining!
As for aerobic grids and filter cartileges, and everything besides the tank, should i have a bucket of the solution and just put everything in to soak for ten minutes, than clean thouroughly? correct? I don't need bleach poisining!
Well you don't put the cartridges in there. Anything that can absorb liquid shouldn't be dunked in the solution.
After the soak, you need will need to rinse everything out (I'm relatively OCD and I rinse it out fully about 5x...) then you let it air dry. Air drying allows some of the chemicals in bleach to evaporate. After it's fully air dried, then rinse out a few more times (this includes everything).
You'll need to use a new filter cartridges, sponges, etc. for your tank since they'll have the disease you don't want in them and soaking them in bleach would be a horrible idea.
Note: I keep the tank upside-down for air drying, usually leaning it at about a 45º angle to allow air in and out of the tank to make sure chemicals can fully evaporate...and the drying process is much faster this way.
Just a trick, after you soak and scrub everything with the bleach solution, scrub it down again with white wine vinegar, its difficult to get all of the bleach out with just water, but the vinegar will get rid of all the bleach and vinegar is easy to get rid of with water!
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Yearly Tank Cleaning- The tearing down and building up.
