Cleaning very dirty, empty aquariums

[Hugh Mann]

Finally have enough spare time to start putting in serious time to rebuilding my aquariums.

My next step, is cleaning them. For reference they were submerged in dirty river water mixed with the dust and dirt picked up in my basement. Needless to say, they’re a colossal mess.

The smaller ones, easy enough. However, the big 230 gallon. Between the corner overflows, top bracing and 30” depth, I simply cannot reach every nook and cranny, and I imagine leaving the dirt in the places I cannot reach is a terrible idea. Short of hiring someone’s kid to climb inside and clean it out, I have a question.

Question: I assume it wouldn’t cause any problems with the seals and all that if I just put a high pressure nozzle on a hose and just blasted all the dirt out of the corners?

 

[Doctorgori]

I’d use muratic acid or vinegar and watertight garbage bags…
what I do is carefully and safely put a smaller amount of diluted acid solution in the tank, then fill the garbage bags with water until it displaces the vinegar to the top.

let that sit for a while or a day…it will scrape pretty darn clean and easily

 

[WVNed]

I do not think a water hose from a few feet away will hurt the seals. I would probably add some Dawn dish soap to it as well