Tank Has Been Sitting For Some Time.... Now What?

[DarkSoul]

So my tank has been sitting around for about a year now, with no fish in it.

without getting into all the unimportant details as to WHY it has just been sitting idly, my problem is this.

For about 2 months it sat with the filter and hoses full of water, but not moving or doing anything.

I eventually drained it all out and allowed it all significant time to dry but with the water in it, there was some sort of slime on the inside of the hoses.
now that its all dry, there is just a dry film left behind.

Obviously a soloution would be to buy a tube cleaning brush, but is t here anything else i can do to clean the rest of the system out, like the filter media and such.

Im not sure what this film is, but it would seem like it could cause problems somewhere down the line.

the aquarium has never had fish in it yet.... just gravel.

also, when the tank was drained, i couldnt get every bit of water out, im almost certain that some of this film remains under/on the gravel and developed before all of the water managed to evaporate.

Would using a few drops of bleach and running the system with fresh RO water help at all? possibly kill anything bad that has grown.... or would bleach harm the system down the line?

Im a noob..... i ask stupid questions

 

[iairj84]

So my tank has been sitting around for about a year now, with no fish in it.

without getting into all the unimportant details as to WHY it has just been sitting idly, my problem is this.

For about 2 months it sat with the filter and hoses full of water, but not moving or doing anything.

I eventually drained it all out and allowed it all significant time to dry but with the water in it, there was some sort of slime on the inside of the hoses.
now that its all dry, there is just a dry film left behind.

Obviously a soloution would be to buy a tube cleaning brush, but is t here anything else i can do to clean the rest of the system out, like the filter media and such.

Im not sure what this film is, but it would seem like it could cause problems somewhere down the line.

the aquarium has never had fish in it yet.... just gravel.

also, when the tank was drained, i couldnt get every bit of water out, im almost certain that some of this film remains under/on the gravel and developed before all of the water managed to evaporate.

Would using a few drops of bleach and running the system with fresh RO water help at all? possibly kill anything bad that has grown.... or would bleach harm the system down the line?

Im a noob..... i ask stupid questions

The slime is more than likely just dirty water with a mixture of algae mixed in. I would just clean it out with a little bleach (Everything but the media) and then start clean from there. Be sure to add a little extra dechlorinator at the beginning just due to the bleach, if there's a little residue the dechlor should take care of it. The bleach shouldnt harm the system if it gets totally washed off. Bleach is essentially chlorine in a much more concentrated form. Any good and beneficial bacteria is totally killed at this point and i would wash the media in just standard water. Then start the cycle from there and see how that goes. The little bit of bleach wont have any bad effects if you're using the dechlor.... Anyone else could chime in but that's what I've always done and it's always worked for me.

 

[DarkSoul]

There wouldnt be any beneficial bacteria i dont think... ive never cycled the tank.... it just sat with tap water in it thats it.

I will do that though, thanks for the advice.... It seems logical, I was just unsure about the bleach.