cleaning out tanks...

[frozenguy]

hey guys.....i unfortunatly had to take down my reef =-(....i'm moving to southern arizona from northern california and i had to get rid of it...but so now i get to clean it ALL out......
anyways.....i was wondering......do you just soak it in bleach????and should i just wipe off the heater and other small things? or soak those too....and what about my red sea prizm skimmer?? and my filter? how should i go about cleaning those???...thanks guys in advance!!! btw..go check out the classifieds thread...i'm seling my lights........!!!

 

[slick]

I would not use bleach on anything that will be in direct contact with water in the future. I would just soak them in water and scrub all the crap off them.

 

[thomas712]

Soak the equipment in vinegar, scrub, rinse. You can use bleach on the tank, and or a saltpaste to scrub it.
Thomas
Bleach is safe as long as it is rinsed well and allowed to dry well.

 

[frozenguy]

ok...so what type of mixture of bleach? or viniger...and what kind of viniger? or what type of bleach? just normal clorox stuff? and how long should i let everything soak for? thanks...

 

[thomas712]

I use Distilled White Vinegar, soak my pumps/ powerheads/ heaters/ parts of the wet/dry, in it when they need cleaning for a few hours, depends how bad they are.
I have soaked my dead coral peices when I used them in bleach & water in a tub on my deck for a day, rinse the heck out of them and let them soak for another day in water, sniff test, rinse again.
I have scrubed a 55 gallon with a cheaper salt mix and a soft 3M sponge pad, works fine. Vinegar can be used here as well.
Thomas

 

[frozenguy]

you used one of those sandpaper sponges? safe on glass?

 

[thomas712]

Sandpaper sponge? No it was just a 3M green scrub pad the softest that I could find. Look around and just find the softest one that you can. Look at the LFS they should have something. I recall that I also used one of the long sticklike ones built for aquariums and just took the sponge off of that and used it.
Thomas

 

[tony detroit]

The real easy hillbilly way is to go to K-mart, buy a detachable shower head with long hose for 15$. Turn it on high pressure setting, turn hot water on high, and I clean my prizm out in about a minute.
Note: wear shorts and a nasty t shirt, you will get some splashes on you.

 

[tony detroit]

this way everything evaporates and you're not worried about any residual residue left on anything from bleach, vinegar, etc.