How to FULLY clean a tank and equipment spotlessly

[nightmarepl]

i got myself a 60G cube tank and its pretty darn dirty i want to fully reset the tank cleaned to basically newish condition along with the sump and all equipment
whats the best way to do vinegar? some type of chemicals?

also have 80 pounds of rock that need to be fully cleaned is there a way to bleach them? make them white again reset them basically?

 

[Suohhen]

For equipment it is down to your level of comfort with different chemicals. I use muriatic acid for big jobs as it simply outperforms everything else by a country mile. It is a dangerous acid so if you can't take the proper precautions it is best to stay with something natural like vinegar or citric acid.
For live rock you can bleach it but I would advice against it unless it is in awful shape. You would be surprised what a spot treatment of Hydrogen Peroxide can do to clean up rock. The one caveat I would say is if the rocks were kept for a long time in a high phosphate environment like a FOWLER tank your going to want to go a bit harder on the treatment.

 

[BostonReefer300]

Soaking equipment in cleaning vinegar then scrubbing with a brush works great for most things. I know that some use muriatic acid for tough cleaning jobs, but you have to be careful with that because of etching and general personal safety. I've also dipped equipment for a short soak in a bleach solution as well. Plenty of freshwater rinsing after/between all these options obviously.
Regarding cleaning rocks, you'll get lots of strong opinions on this forum for that. If you want super clean, dead rocks, in my opinion and experience, a bleach soak is the way to go. First put the rocks out in the hot sun for a few days, then power wash them, then put them in a big bin with freshwater and a big bottle of bleach and a powerhead for a couple days. Then rinse the heck out of them with fresh water. Then soak in freshwater with a powerhead for a day, rinse thoroughly again, soak in fresh water again, then let dry out in the sun. I did this and it worked great for me. Just make sure you do all the steps outside and are well ventilated. There is some chance that live rock will have things on it that can release toxins into the air

 

[nightmarepl]

For equipment it is down to your level of comfort with different chemicals. I use muriatic acid for big jobs as it simply outperforms everything else by a country mile. It is a dangerous acid so if you can't take the proper precautions it is best to stay with something natural like vinegar or citric acid.
For live rock you can bleach it but I would advice against it unless it is in awful shape. You would be surprised what a spot treatment of Hydrogen Peroxide can do to clean up rock. The one caveat I would say is if the rocks were kept for a long time in a high phosphate environment like a FOWLER tank your going to want to go a bit harder on the treatment.

lets say i used vinegar or citric acid that would damage the silicone and such on the tank?>

 

[Quietman]

Vinegar works well so does citric acid, just make sure you rinse out very well with clean water. Don't need to use RODI for cleaning/rinsing either.

There are processes for bleaching - I've never done it but if for just appearance the white doesn't last long at all in tank. It's also faster than the below curing method at about 7 days. Takes a soak in a 10:1 water:bleach (no perfume). Just let it dry when done or resoak in RODI for a day to rinse and check levels.

I would at minimum cure them but takes a few weeks. Curing makes sure there's no dead organics that will decay in your tank. Do a good scrubbing with a stiff brush and water (possibly vinegar) solution. Drop rocks in a heated container (garbage can) of saltwater for a few weeks - change water occassionally and when nitrates stop rising or stay at 0. - you're done and they're ready to use.

 

[nightmarepl]

Soaking equipment in cleaning vinegar then scrubbing with a brush works great for most things. I know that some use muriatic acid for tough cleaning jobs, but you have to be careful with that because of etching and general personal safety. I've also dipped equipment for a short soak in a bleach solution as well. Plenty of freshwater rinsing after/between all these options obviously.
Regarding cleaning rocks, you'll get lots of strong opinions on this forum for that. If you want super clean, dead rocks, in my opinion and experience, a bleach soak is the way to go. First put the rocks out in the hot sun for a few days, then power wash them, then put them in a big bin with freshwater and a big bottle of bleach and a powerhead for a couple days. Then rinse the heck out of them with fresh water. Then soak in freshwater with a powerhead for a day, rinse thoroughly again, soak in fresh water again, then let dry out in the sun. I did this and it worked great for me. Just make sure you do all the steps outside and are well ventilated. There is some chance that live rock will have things on it that can release toxins into the air

man that sounds like a process haha maybe somone will buy them off me and i can just buy dry rock lol

 

[BostonReefer300]

Cleaning vinegar is fine with your silicone seals. You can use a very dilute bleach solution as well (like chlorox anywhere)---just don't let dilute bleach sit on silicone for long.

 

[Quietman]

Rock isn't exacly

man that sounds like a process haha maybe somone will buy them off me and i can just buy dry rock lol

Rock isn't exactly cheap and it's completely serviceable to use. If there are other reasons - you don't like shape or want to get ocean live rock for biodiversity/simple cycle reasons - then go that way.

 

[nightmarepl]

yah i got a tank from a friend its a 60 gallon cube and its extremely dirty he hasnt done anything with it for 2 years not even water changes let the fish still alive haha so i want to restart it completely by fully cleaning the soul out of it

 

[BostonReefer300]

Yuck! I would definitely nuke those rocks. They've probably got so much sediment built up inside them that you'll need to shake the heck out of them submerged in order to jar stuff loose

 

[Quietman]

yah i got a tank from a friend its a 60 gallon cube and its extremely dirty he hasnt done anything with it for 2 years not even water changes let the fish still alive haha so i want to restart it completely by fully cleaning the soul out of it

Oh it's still wet? I know you've probably done this before - but I'm not sure I'd start over unless there were some disease or bad algae problem. Sand yeah...lose it. But years old cured live rock - pretty precious commodity there.

If I felt it was sufficient, I'd just scrub it clean with no stripping and call it day.

 

[nightmarepl]

Yuck! I would definitely nuke those rocks. They've probably got so much sediment built up inside them that you'll need to shake the heck out of them submerged in order to jar stuff loose

yup exactly why i dont know if really want it i can power wash them soak them but kinda of scared to do all and put them into a fresh new setup just to get a nuke of algea bloom or something

 

[nightmarepl]

Oh it's still wet? I know you've probably done this before - but I'm not sure I'd start over unless there were some disease or bad algae problem. Sand yeah...lose it. But years old cured live rock - pretty precious commodity there.

well i considered that took but who knows what lives in there haha he had bristle worms the size of pythons at one point haha wife would gut me on the spot

 

[Suohhen]

lets say i used vinegar or citric acid that would damage the silicone and such on the tank?>

None of these chemicals will hurt the seal. The biggest threat to silicon is from scraping/scrubbing.
Personally as I said originally I would preserve the rock. There is nothing to replace established live rock, dry rock has it's own biodiversity issues which can perhaps be overcome by using live sand, but live sand is by no means live rock and the bagged live sands are simply dry sand with bacteria added.

 

[nightmarepl]

None of these chemicals will hurt the seal. The biggest threat to silicon is from scraping/scrubbing.
Personally as I said originally I would preserve the rock. There is nothing to replace established live rock, dry rock has it's own biodiversity issues which can perhaps be overcome by using live sand, but live sand is by no means live rock and the bagged live sands are simply dry sand with bacteria added.

yah probably true maybe some good scrubbing and i reuse the rock not sure

 

[Quietman]

well i considered that took but who knows what lives in there haha he had bristle worms the size of pythons at one point haha wife would gut me on the spot

Don't get something for nothing I guess...rock that'll help with immediate success. Critters that scare the bejeezus out of the wife. Not sure what i'd do either. Might consider just placing in tank bare and baiting out the big critters.

 

[nightmarepl]

Don't get something for nothing I guess...rock that'll help with immediate success. Critters that scare the bejeezus out of the wife. Not sure what i'd do either. Might consider just placing in tank bare and baiting out the big critters.

yah not 100% sure either

 

[Sarcazian]

So, I ran into this challenge like 8 years ago. Long story, I did a 35% H2O2 bath that was diluted to maybe 12% in a Brute (maybe 4x) followed by multiple SW WC's for a few weeks. Maybe a WC a week, but it has been too long.

The amount of gunk that came off was insane and in hindsight of recent events, I probably should not have done it in the summer in a hot garage since I had a ton of zoas on those rocks... So, be careful to keep the activity outside or at least in a really good ventilated area.

In my case, I bought a used 46G Bow with a 10G wet/dry that I had converted to a sump initially and then a DYI algae scrubber to try fighting the battle. The seller likely sold it because he gave up on the fight to algae and pets. He had (or I later introduced) grape cap, Halimeda, bubble algae, HA, red and white flatworms, a gazillion pods/amps, spiders, fire/bristle worms (massive and small), etc. I needed to prune back the Halimeda and grape cap at least weekly since it grew so quickly. At the time, I was trying to purge both of them and it was an impossible task since I couldn't get to the roots. It would just grow back.

I will say that everything (softies, frogspawn, hammer, etc) all looked a lot healthier than my current tank. I can't find a full tank shot atm, but you can see a top down of the macro and HA.

I restarted into the hobby and re-used that same rock that had been soaking for 8 years. Salinity was still good and the Trop salt seemed to hold out... Rock is pristine, almost no algae in the (new) tank except for the wall, but I will admit that I am running the tank more like an SPS tank without any real SPS or dosing regiments. I just don't want the new tank to ever get to that place.

 

[nightmarepl]

So, I ran into this challenge like 8 years ago. Long story, I did a 35% H2O2 bath that was diluted to maybe 12% in a Brute (maybe 4x) followed by multiple SW WC's for a few weeks. Maybe a WC a week, but it has been too long.

The amount of gunk that came off was insane and in hindsight of recent events, I probably should not have done it in the summer in a hot garage since I had a ton of zoas on those rocks... So, be careful to keep the activity outside or at least in a really good ventilated area.

In my case, I bought a used 46G Bow with a 10G wet/dry that I had converted to a sump initially and then a DYI algae scrubber to try fighting the battle. The seller likely sold it because he gave up on the fight to algae and pets. He had (or I later introduced) grape cap, Halimeda, bubble algae, HA, red and white flatworms, a gazillion pods/amps, spiders, etc.

I will say that everything (softies, frogspawn, hammer, etc) all looked a lot healthier than my current tank. I can't find a full tank shot atm, but you can see a top down of the macro and HA.

I restarted into the hobby and re-used that same rock that has been soaking for 8 years. Rock is prestine, almost no algae in the tank, but I will admit that I am running the tank more like an SPS tank without any real SPS or dosing regiments. I just don't want to new tank to ever get to that place.

interesting