How to clean dirty/empty tank?

[Dwyer]

I have a tank that I bought from somebody a while back and I am trying to get it ready to fill with water. It looks like they drained the tank, left the sand and all the scum/algae etc. on the glass and let it dry out. I am working on scraping off the glass and going to start removing all the stinky sand out of the bottom. But I wanted to know if anybody had any tips on cleaning it and getting it all ready to transfer 90 gallon over to this tank.

There are some cloudy areas on the glass that my razor blade is having trouble scraping clean. Also I am a little worried about all the nasty stinky sand in the bottom and any unwanted bacteria that could cause problems when I transfer all my livestock to this tank.

What do you suggest?
Thanks in advance.

 

[slumpysix]

Vinegar works wonders. Hot water but not too hot where you can't touch it. An old shop vac would get rid of the chunks if its hard to move tank. Follow up with bleach/water wash down and let it dry out. As far as the foggy patches on the glass, vinegar should do it unless someone else has an idea.

 

[Dwyer]

Sounds like a great way to go. Thanks for the info.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

If there's sand stuck to the glass, don't try and scrape at it - you may scratch the glass. A soak in hot water and vinegar should loosen everything up for you.

 

[solitude127]

Another vote for vinegar. Before I sold my old 90, it was filled with algae and crud. I filled it to the brim with a gallon of vinegar and the rest water and place a powerhead in there. A day later all that crud came off really easy.

 

[Drewbaby]

Distilled white vinegar all the way. If that doesn't take the white stain off the glass muriatic acid will. I know someone who bought a used tank that was staine really bad from calcium and hard water and they had to use the muriatic acid the get the calcium out of the glass

 

[Dwyer]

Well, I started by spraying off the walls with water and wiping it with a paper towel. Many of the things that seemed very hard to remove came off effortlessly. Water and the scraper took care of most of the other stuff. I'm going to try the vinegar to get the really stubborn cloudy areas clean. It's amazing how much the water helped with the razor blade. I looks like it will turn out great. Thanks again for the info....

 

[slumpysix]

Just be sure not to scrape the silicone. Use a green scrubber pad like on a (brand new)kitchen sponge for the inside corners.

 

[RocketSurgeon]

Just be sure not to scrape the silicone. Use a green scrubber pad like on a (brand new)kitchen sponge for the inside corners.

+1 on not scraping the silicone.

Kitchen sponges sometimes contain anti-mold/anti-fungal additives. I recommend using a sterile sponge.

+1 on the vinegar as well.

 

[Dwyer]

Well, wiping the glass with vinegar doesn't seem to get the cloudy/mineral areas clean. I read somewhere that you can soak a papertowl in vinegar and let it sit on the glass for a while to let it sit and break down the minerals. I will probably try that then if unsuccessful might look at muriatic acid. I dunno...

 

[d3rryc]

You can sometimes find vinegar that's 9% instead of the standard 5%. I go through the 9% like Gatorade on a hot day when I'm doing pump maintenance!

 

[Dwyer]

After reading about it a bit. I will definitely try to stick with the vinegar. I read that heating the vinegar up a bit will speed up the process.

 

[mudskipper1]

does anyone know what is the highest concentration of acetic acid that would be safe to use to clean pumps, etc?

 

[tamortman]

i have had to deal with the cloudy white spots on glass before i just let the vinegar sit on it overnight

 

[psteeleb]

Here’s what I do when setting up a used tank

Rinse all the junk (sand etc) out before bringing into the house

If it is heavily covered in coraline or other build ups I'll acid rinse it outside by adding about 1 cup of muriatic acid per 5 gallons (add the acid to the water not the other way around). I usually won’t fill the tank but I'll move the acid water up the sides of the tank etc by tilting the tank or brushing it up the sides. I'll also brush the heavy areas (use gloves and respirator)

Once the heavy stuff is off I’ll reseal the tank – see other posts for this – but basically it’s removing the old silicone seal (the fillet material - not the silicone that holds the glass together) and replace it.

Once resealed or at least checked for leaks and condition, I’ll set up the tank with all the plumbing and sump.

Leak test for 24 hours using tap water

Acid wash with tap water and a mild muriatic acid mix (1 -2 cups per 100g), I’ll circulate using all pumps and valves open for 8 -24 hours (this step can actually part of the 24 hr leak test, it just depends on the potential of leaking acid water)

Drain and refill with tap water and bleach mix (again about a cup per 100g) and circulate for a couple hours. I’ll then add a declorinate and circulate for a couple more hours. Then drain the tank and rinse with tap water and declorinate running all pumps all valves open.

Drain the and wipe dry the system, pull pipe as required to drain and your entire system (not just the tank) is now cleaned, leak tested, sanitized and ready to go).

From here it depends if I’ll fill the system with RO/DI and mix the salt in the tank, or start transferring existing sand, water, live rock etc and add mixed salt water to top off.

 

[Sk8r]

My way: toss the sand. Get a gallon of white vinegar, the cheapest brand, per 30 gallons of tank. Dump it in and start up a circulation pump. Also toss in any hose or equipment you want to clean up. Let it run for 24 hours. Any residual cloudy patches may be etching of the glass itself. The rest should be sparkling clean.