Cleaning used tank

[Cell]

Do you spot clean with citric acid solution or vinegar or do you fill the tank up with water + citric acid/vinegar and run the pumps for a day or two?

In the past, I've just used a spray bottle and spot cleaned slowly, but I'm feeling lazy and wondering why I wouldn't just run the tank with citric acid for awhile to clean it up.

 

[Reef.]

Worth filling, killing 2 birds and all that. cleaning fully as you probably don’t know it’s full history and also a leak test, just to thrown in another proverb...if a job is worth doing it’s worth doing well.

 

[Super Fly]

I always give used equipment bleach & vinegar bath (esp used tanks), letting them run with pump on for few days to kill everything. After draining, I run another bath with clean water for at least 24 hrs then drain & rinse and let sit for 1-2 days to let bleach evaporate. Vinegar will not kill everything, whereas bleach will. There have been posts from folks who ended up with tank issues after using only vinegar to clean used tank.

 

[FortLivingRoom]

I always give used equipment bleach & vinegar bath (esp used tanks), letting them run with pump on for few days to kill everything. After draining, I run another bath with clean water for at least 24 hrs then drain & rinse and let sit for 1-2 days to let bleach evaporate. Vinegar will not kill everything, whereas bleach will. There have been posts from folks who ended up with tank issues after using only vinegar to clean used tank.

Do you think I should do vinegar first for a few days to dissolve deposits, then bleach after followed by rinse? Is RO water requiredor tap OK? Thanks!

 

[ichthyogeek]

You could do vinegar then bleach using tap, and then do a rinse with RO. Just keep in mind that vinegar combined with bleach can produce chlorine gas which is quite harmful, so rinse the tank out before you add bleach.

 

[FortLivingRoom]

You could do vinegar then bleach using tap, and then do a rinse with RO. Just keep in mind that vinegar combined with bleach can produce chlorine gas which is quite harmful, so rinse the tank out before you add bleach.

Thank you. Do you know if its ok to run the sytem for a few hours with bleach? This tank is pretty nasty.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Thank you. Do you know if its ok to run the sytem for a few hours with bleach? This tank is pretty nasty.

Yeah, it should be fine. If the tank is "pretty nasty", it might be worth filling it with tap, and giving it a good scrub down first to get rid of most of the organics, then doing the vinegar and bleach baths.

 

[FortLivingRoom]

Yeah, it should be fine. If the tank is "pretty nasty", it might be worth filling it with tap, and giving it a good scrub down first to get rid of most of the organics, then doing the vinegar and bleach baths.

Yes, it has what looks to be like miniature snail skeletons on the pipes and back glass. They came off ok with my fingernail, but there's so much area I'll have no fingertips!

 

[ichthyogeek]

Yes, it has what looks to be like miniature snail skeletons on the pipes and back glass. They came off ok with my fingernail, but there's so much area I'll have no fingertips!

Hey! It's a free nail clipping/filing! A razor blade will make quick work of those.