# Cleaning a used aquarium



## Rastan71 (Oct 18, 2009)

I recently bought a used aquarium and was wondering what I should use to clean the glass of the empty aquarium?


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## Karebear (Oct 6, 2008)

Hi Rastan71

If it is clean just do a good rinising with water, otherwise you can use a light bleach solution or salt. If there is a hard water build up you can use white vinegar, just make sure you rinse really well


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## ianryeng (Dec 22, 2008)

I know a lot of people like to use ammonia to clean their equipment because it has less detrimental effects on the tank if you fail to remove it all (it occurs naturally anyway).

I agree that vinegar and a little elbow grease go a long way with hard water stains


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## mosasaur (Jul 29, 2004)

I have always used plain water or, if I feel some sterilization is needed, salty water. To remove hard water deposits, you can use vinegar on a cloth. In all cases, rinse thoroghly.


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## Essenza (Nov 8, 2009)

I had done this a few time in the past, fill your tank up with clean water, dump all your used equipment that will go into your tank later on such as rain bar etc..(do not dump in your drift wood or rock, this should be cleaned separately using boiling water instead). then drop a few sterilizing tablets(those that are used for sterilizing baby milk bottle, follow the dosage instruction on the packing), let it sit for a few hours,drain,wipe and rinse thoroughly, if you are worry about Chlorine residue, add anti chlorine liquid that you normally use for water treatment when filling up your tank later on. this should take care of most of the bio residue(algae,bacteria etc..) from previous operation.


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

I always just use a weak bleach solution, 50/50 vinger if I need to remove any build up.


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## Philosophos (Mar 1, 2009)

If none of the above works, and you've got some amazing deposits to clean off, 10-15% HCL is great stuff. Careful with it though.

-Philosophos


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

Cola is a stronger acid than vinegar, and works a lot better for the dried on crusty mineral deposits, but even better than this is citric acid. It is sold in the grocery store, spice department, as sour salt.
I remove as much of the crud as I can with a razor then dampen the residue with lemon juice (more acidic material) then sprinkle on the citric acid. Keep the area damp by covering it with a paper towel that is wet with more lemon juice. Work on it about every 15 minutes the re-apply the lemon juice and citric acid. 
CLR is a cleaner available in hardware stores. Read the label directions, and thoroughly rinse. 

Most aquatic diseases and parasites cannot survive being dried out. Clean the tank and equipment any way you want, then let it all dry in the sun, turning it so the UV gets to as much of it as possible. 
I clean tanks with a strong salt solution, and use dry salt on a damp cloth as an abrasive to clean the tanks and equipment. Rinse well, but any residue is too small to affect fish or plants.

Along with lots of rinsing...
Use dechlorinator to deactivate the bleach if you clean the tank and equipment with bleach.
Use hydrogen peroxide if you clean the tank with potassium permanganate. 
Use light if you clean the tank with hydrogen peroxide. 

Then you can do a fishless cycle, and if any fish disease has survived there will be several weeks in the tank with no host, and a lot of diseases will not survive this.


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## Rastan71 (Oct 18, 2009)

Thank you everyone for your replies, I appreciate the help.

It is a fairly clean tank, just normal buildup from not being used for a while. The glass cover has a lot of buildup, but these tips should help alot.


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