starting over again

[overhaul]

Hi,

new here... hello to everyone!

I recently made a humongous blunder I would be better off not get into a long drawn out explanation of. But to get to the jist, my used to be going on 3 year established planted tank with several inhabitants is now gone/dead. Now I have an empty tank, all the water is out, filters are still dirty, glass still has algae stuck to it, but I intend to clean out and toss all filter medium from the canisters, so on and so forth..

The tank is a 55 with black onyx and flourite substrate. The last remaining plants are in the smaller tank now with the last living fish which I think I'll name 'tank' cuz that sucker has survived it all. I forget what kind of fish he is but he looks like a black plecko on steroids. He buzzes when pissed off and hides out ALL the time.

anyway.. I want to start the tank over keeping only the gravel and slate rock. The driftwood is in such poor condition I may just toss it out.

My goal is to kill off all living things in the tank without using any chemicals and my question is how do I do that?

I want to eventually return the last fish to this tank. I'm sure the last plants will survive too but they are rooted into some of the driftwood so I'm not sure how to go about sanitizing those without killing them.

any advice?

 

[Aquascaper]

He buzzes when p***ed off and hides out ALL the time.

Sounds like you've got a Banjo catfish They eventually grow to about 6" and a very hardy (probably why he's survived).

As for cleaning the tank, etc. the only solution I can think of that's not 'chemical' as such would be a saline solution (salty water). This will help remove mild algae as it acts like an abrasive.
I would boil all the rock and gravel to kill any bacteria on it as well as scrubbing the filter and all components in hot water (as hot as possible - boiling water may damage the filter so I wouldn't recommend that).

That's what I did with my second hand tank and i've had no problems.

HTH

 

[Ed4567]

A mild (and pure) bleach solution would work, provided you rinse the tank out very well afterwards.

 

[overhaul]

thank you guys...

will boiling the substrate do something to it's iron content?

 

[Aquascaper]

Not sure on that one, sorry.

 

[willywonka099]

DO NOT USE BLEACH !!! use eather a salt based (warm) water solution or if you want less residue use a vinager and water mix eather of these will work do not use soaps at all !!! no detergents or bleaches ...... not even a light mix

 

[smithrc]

DO NOT USE BLEACH !!! use eather a salt based (warm) water solution or if you want less residue use a vinager and water mix eather of these will work do not use soaps at all !!! no detergents or bleaches ...... not even a light mix

using bleach is a common way of cleaning things thouroughly. as long as you rinse and rince again, then rinse just to make sure, you will be fine.

if in doubt rinse it all again!

 

[willywonka099]

Well using salt or vinager is kind of a short cut from all that rinsing for the same outcome

 

[Aquascaper]

Some bleaches are pure Ammonia so no problems there as long as it's all washed out

 

[willywonka099]

That is very true use what you think is best (or easiest to obtain) eather way vinager salt or bleach i would suggest rinsing vigourosly

 

[overhaul]

hmmm...

well, I have used pure ammonia on the tank when it was brand new during a fishless cycle. I really want to avoid having to remove the substrate or having to rinse it vigorously. I don't mind it taking a couple weeks to get done. I would much rather it take a long time than risk leaving behind a lethal amount of whatever substance requires lots of rinsing to remove. that's the reason I don't want to use any chemicals.

I've never used vinegar. Does that require vigorous rinsing as well?

The only other things I can think of are large amounts of salt or large amounts of ammonia or better yet, large amounts of both salt and ammonia. maybe I could let the tank run like that for a few days then dump all the water and fill with tap. Then start a fishless cycle after that. The remaining ammonia will break down on it's own and the diluted salt is harmless. I know the salt will kill ich, but what about other diseases? I wonder if that would be enough. Perhaps the 30 days of fishless cycling would be enough. I don't think any disease can survive without a host. (but i'm not a scientist anyway)

I'm really unsure which course of action is best.

 

[Opcn]

When they say bleach they mean clear bleach (just chlorine) not ammonia. Never mix amonia and chlorine as they make a gas that will kill you I personally prefer bleach to all other alternatives as it is kinder on my own nose and can be rised out (may take some work) Vinegar does not take nearly the rinseing bleach does but requires alot more and won't kill nearly as much and will destroy the seals on your tank. If you really want to get it clean USE bleach there is no safe alternative that works nearly as well not even boiling.

 

[Crystal]

When I did mine, I bought all new stuff that can be easily replaced (air tubing, filter inserts, etc) and boiled the gravel and rocks. Since my plants were plastic, I used aquarium salt , and to remove the alge, I used aquarium salt as well, scrubbing with that. After, I used a very diluted pure anmmonia, let it sit overnight, then rinsed the heck out of it. I finished the rinse with boiling water.
I got that advice from a few people on here, and it worked great! HTH!