cleaning used tank for reef

[ekclark]

I am doing just that...took my parent's 125, used for fw with inverts (hopefully copper free) and was wondering how best to clean this thing out? It has dried algae on the sides and just some dried gunk here and there. I cannot, I am on my own with this thing, just take the thing outside and rinse it a bunch of times. I was thinking I would just buy some new sponges and go at it with a little hot water. Any other suggestions? I plan to move my 75 gallon reef into in the next few weeks, but this is my first step. Any expirence here? Oxyclean claims it is good for cleaning tanks, but I don't dare...should I?

 

[cprdnick]

I wouldn't try the oxyclean. Anything that has "Incredible Stain Fighting Power" should not be trusted in this hobby IMO.
The water thing is what I would do.
Actually if it was me, I would just run a water hose to the tank fill it up past the algae. Then I would let it sit a couple of days to let the water soak in, and then I'd either scrub, or use a Mag float to clean the glass. While doing this I would try to find some form of mechanical filtration to put on the tank. Or I would let the debris settle and vaccuum it out while emptying the tank of tap water at the same time.
Just my 2 pennies.

 

[ekclark]

Thanks cpr...yeah oxyclean has disaster written all over it and I can just see myself becoming the guy with "oxyclean post" and not too much sympathy

 

[robchuck]

White vinager diluted with water in a spray bottle works wonders. I'm taking down my 150, as soon as I finish hypo with the fish in there, and will scrub it clean afterwards. I'm not looking forward to that.
Best of luck with the cleaning!

 

[ekclark]

Thanks Rob...should I just let the vinegar dry in it after the scrubbing or how do you make sure their isn't anything left in there? BTW--what are doing with your lights from the 150?

 

[robchuck]

I've never used the white vinegar solution to clean such a large tank, but I rinsed previous tanks with water from the garden hose, and emptied the tank a few times until any traces of the vinegar become negligable.
I'm in the process of downsizing to a 65, so I've already moved my two 36" PC units over to the 65 (36" wide).