How Much Bleach to Sterilize a Tank?

[cpurick]

I have removed the fish from my display tank for Cupramine treatment (ich). I was unable to locate quinine sulfate for veterinary use.

Rather than leave the empty tank fallow for two months, I've elected to sterilize it with chlorine bleach. The folks at National Fish Pharmacy use a similar approach to sterilize their own tanks. The tank is just base rock and aragonite.

Can anyone recommend a quantity of household bleach that would be effective at killing ich in a 75 gallon system? (72 gallon bow-front)

I'm thinking swimming-pool chlorination levels are probably higher than necessary. I could certainly go that high, but I don't want to take unnecessary chances with my living room carpet.

How much bleach would you add to a tank to kill ich?

 

[b0bab0ey]

Wow, I'm gonna follow along for this one. I'd be worried about the bleach leaching into the silicone.

 

[PFCDeitz]

I cleaned my tanks with bleach. I just do 2/3 water 1/3 bleach. Then i let it air dry. Rinse and air dry again.

 

[SaltyMember]

1/10 bleach to water ration would be enough to do the trick. That is the recommended amount for sterilizing hard surfaces in a healthcare setting after a blood spill.

 

[cpurick]

These mixtures sound like cleaning solutions. I was thinking of something more along the lines of swimming pool chlorination. I just need an antimicrobial level in the tank water.

 

[Rockys_Pride]

1/10 bleach to water ration would be enough to do the trick. That is the recommended amount for sterilizing hard surfaces in a healthcare setting after a blood spill.

Think that if this mixture is enough to clean blood, it's though to kill ich. You said you didn't want to go to swimming pool levels?

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[MrTuskfish]

Wow, I'm gonna follow along for this one. I'd be worried about the bleach leaching into the silicone.

Bleaching tanks is very common. LFS, dealers, breeders do it all the time. With a good rinsing, you don't have to worry about silicone absorbing bleach. Absorbing & releasing copper is another, similar myth.

 

[MrTuskfish]

I would never use bleach with substrate and base rock. The incredible porosity of LR (or base rock) is what makes it work. Why do you want to bleach it, rather than just drying it or letting the whole thing go fishless?

 

[cpurick]

I'm far more concerned with the bleach attacking the silicone than leaching into it.

Also, chlorine decomposes readily. I'm not worried about it soaking into anything permanently.

I can probably be talked into drying the rock, though I'd rather bleach it first if clean rock will place less of a load on the new tank when I start it back up.

Since I'm trying to do this to save time -- so that I can return my fish to this tank after treating them in another -- I don't see how I'd be able to properly dry out the substrate. I'd like to be sure, and I think I can get that assurance by dosing the sand with bleach while the fish are out. Then after a few rinses and a dechlorinator -- and a couple of days for the bleach to break down on its own, I should have a sanitized new tank for my cured fish.

Going fallow takes close to two months, and is still a crapshoot. This is a fish-only tank; I should be able to kill anything in it that isn't fish.

 

[cpurick]

Right now I'm thinking of using 1 cup per 20 gals. I'll probably swap out the old water for fresh before adding the bleach.

What about hypersalinity? How much salt do you think C. irritans can take in a fishless tank?