New Tropical Tank

[gillpeo]

Hiya all I dont know if I am doing this right but heres my question anyway. I have kept cold water fish for ages so I am not a total newey. I have just bought a largeish tank and I am hoping to keep discus fish (cos they are totally awesome) I know about cycling as I have done it with my other cold water tanks and I have researched about ph and food for discus. My problem is not one that I could have foreseen really. The tank has been delivered and set up but I havent put water in yet because it smeels a lot of silicone. Its a glass tank 8mm thick. Could anyone advise on what I can use to clean the tank before I start the fishless cycle.The tank size is 1027L x 477D x 616H mm / 40" x 18.8" x 24.25" . It has overhead Filtration Pump 900 Litres per hour Powerhead and an external filter with a 9w UV lamp and 3 T5 lights 2 white one red the water volume is 200 litres.I think I have got the right set up for the discus to be happy so I dont want to do anything to cause harm cos I used the wrong things to clean the tank.Many Thanks in advance Gill

 

[Curiosity101]

Alot of new tanks smell a bit at first. Do you know when it was made? The only thing I'd be worried about is if it's been made privately or repaired with non aquarium silicone.

If it's normal aquarium safe silicone then it shouldn't really need washing. If you really want you can always use a strong salt water solution (it'll kill off any freshwater nasties), I think there are a couple of other things you can do but normally I just give new tanks a quick scrub with plain warm water.

Often when you fill a brand new tank after a few weeks or so you'll see a sort of white 'scum' grow on the silicone which, I think, is algae or bacteria growing on it I can't remember exactly though. Eitherways if you're fishless cycling it shouldn't be an issue for the discus really...

 

[gillpeo]

Thanks for quick reply. It is a new tank. In the past I have had second hand tanks that have been bought from friends so I havent had to clean them.I bought the tank from a well known company online that sell tanks and ponds (I dont know if I am allowed to say the company name)Its not dirty but the smell is quite strong. Gill

 

[Curiosity101]

If it's by a reputable company then you can hopefully trust they used the correct sealant. In that case I'd give a quick rinse with warm water and treat as you would usually. Are you doing a cycle from scratch or with mature media? If it's from scratch then you're likely to see the fuzzy white growth stuff on the silicone over the next few weeks and it should hopefully pass before you start thinking about adding the fish.

I can't give you any discus specific help though cause personally I've never kept them so never really done much research on them.

 

[gillpeo]

I am doing fishless cycle from scratch.I am using kleenoff for amonia so hopefully in a couple of weeks the filters will be ready to go.I have done a fair bit of research on discus fish so I know that the ph from tap is fine and I am going to use prime tap conditioner I already have water test kits that I use for the cold water tanks. I have read loads about food and intend to give flakes and home made beef heart from a recipe I read on this forum.I think I will use salt water solution to clean tank just in case. Thanks Gill

 

[Curiosity101]

You could also use a weak bleach solution so long as you rinse well, allow it to dry. But honestly I wouldn't be too worried... i'd only give it a rinse to get rid of dust n anything that might've fallen in.

 

[OldMan47]

The cure time for silicone sealant is only about 3 days under normal conditions. If you are still smelling the vinegar odor in your new tank, give it a day or two to finish curing. It turns out that some moisture in the air is really required to get a proper cure, so maybe the place where the tank was manufactured was excessively dry. If you have the tank in a normal environment for over 3 days, I would be quite surprised if you can still easily smell the vinegar odor of curing sealant.