sanitizing tanks + decorations???
by Aquaboy on Sunday, April 4th, 2010 | 5 Comments
I have 2, 10 gallon turtle tanks, and I want to turn one into an aquarium. But how would I clean it properly?
~I also have decorations that belonged to sick fish, and I would hate to see them just thrown out. Is there any way I can properly clean these up? (Artificial plants, statues, etc.)
There are treatments that you can buy. They can be expensive. I have always used bleach. People will scream about that…but I have never had a problem with any of my aquariums or turtle gear. I use a low level of bleach/water solution. Soak and scrub. Then the key is rinse, rinse, rinse! Dry, and rinse, rinse some more! Just make sure to clean off all the bleach residue. I have had turtles and fish together successfully as well. Of course all the fish were too big for the turtle to eat
But the tanks must be properly filtered, levels of bacteria, etc, to keep the ammonia levels low enough to keep from hurting the turtles.
Anyhow, hope this helps.
Plain bleach is the safest and easiest disinfectant for fish tanks in my opinion.
Put the decorations and everything in the tank, fill with lukewarm water, add 1/8 cup of plain bleach(not splashless gel or fancy things like that).
Let it sit for a couple hours, then rinse it a half dozen times. You should not be able to smell the bleach on it. Let it air dry, preferably in sunlight.
Then you’re good to go.
Some people will recommend vinegar, and vinegar is great for hard water stains, but it isn’t a disinfectant.
put the plants in a bowl and fill the bowl with boiling water, use a fork and move the plants around. i had a tank that had sick fish and after i boiled the plants i put them in a new tank, and now my fish are happy and having babies. just use boiling water with no soap
sanitizing tanks + decorations??? | Aquarium Blog
sanitizing tanks + decorations??? | Aquarium Blog