Been Donated A Tank

[Big_eyes]

I've been given a tank with the advice of -

'it's been used before but killed all my fish as soon as I put them in it'

Apparently it was used for reptiles previously. So seeing as I don't want any dead fishes, what would be the best method and materials etc for me to use to clean this baby?

Just to add, yes obviously it it still water tight as it has been filled with or attempted to be filled with fish since.

 

[Curiosity101]

Did the person you got it from have lots of fish experience? It could be that they just set it up incorrectly and so bad water quality ie. ammonia poisoning, killed the fish.

However cleaning wise, you can try bleach (the rinse and allow to dry), then white vinegar (rinse and allow to dry) and then salt water, then just rinse rinse and rinse again. Once you've rinsed 5 or 6 times I would refill using at least 2 x De-chlorinator. Leave with water in for a week, and if you have a chance, double check the level of Cl, if Chlorine shows at 0 then you should be good to go.
Nothing will live through bleach, white vinegar and salt. Plus it should remove any chemicals left in the tank.

What I'm suggesting may be overboard, but I haven't a clue what could be causing the deaths...unless it was just an uncycled/overstocked tank.

 

[Haych]

a weak milton solution is good aswell

 

[Big_eyes]

Sounds long winded but if it clears things then that's great! Thanks for that.

The tank came from someone who I would say is a moderately knowledged fish keeper, to be more specific they said that it killed all of their scissor tails(but clown loach and other odd bunches were fine). I just didn't want to be 'that' specific as I was planning on doing a thorough clean out just incase.

Thanks for the advice though

Someone has also suggested to me that using baby bottle steriliser would be a suitable thing to use to clean..........................? Any advancement of experience/info on that part would be great.

 

[Haych]

its effectively a weak bleach solution,l so just water it down, wipe the tank over and rinse through properly

 

[Big_eyes]

its effectively a weak bleach solution,l so just water it down, wipe the tank over and rinse through properly

Great stuff!

I've never known a forum to have such helpful folk

 

[Rezatii]

I agree with Curiosity's 'Blitz it' remedy of bleach, vinegar salt. It's what I did on my second hand tank xD

And congratz on the new (and free) tank, have fun setting it up


-Rezz

 

[River Dog]

Yep, I would go with the Milton baby steriliser too. You know you are safe with that.

 

[drobbyb]

I always use a 10 parts water to 1 part bleach and a good scrub. Other sterilization chemicals do exist, like potassium permangonate (purple stuff used for net soak,) but bleach will do it just fine. If you allow it to dry and use a 2x dose of dechlorinator you have little to worry about.