Disinfected Tank advice

[Chelu]

Hello; The short bleach soak is the only thing standing out to me. I did a clean and disinfect of three tanks a few years ago. ( not for flukes) I let the tanks soak in a bleach solution for over a day and the equipment to be used much the same. I do not have any sort of specific knowledge to be sure 15 minutes soak is not long enough but do have some doubts. Unsupported doubts to be sure.
When I disinfected my tanks I did them one at a time so it was not a chore I was able to get done quickly. The long soak time did fit in to the overall effort as while one thing was soaking I had plenty of other things to do.

Feel free to ignore my suggestion for a longer soak. I cannot support the actual need. I would do a longer soak but that is just my take.

One thing I did discover is that a very good rinse is not sufficient to get rid of bleach residue. I had to use some PRIME specifically to detox the bleach. Of course I reused a few hundred pounds of gravel so the wet spaces in the gravel was most likely where the bleach did not get rinsed away. I did use prime. I guess from what I've read, once bleach dries it breaks down into salt etc. Thanks again for the thoughts

Good luck.

I appreciate the feedback. I let it sit for that amount of time based on all the research I did. A majority of posts and videos only recommended 10-15min. 10min as contact. Anything over that amount of time can lead to degrading of material from the bleach.

 

[skjl47]

I appreciate the feedback. I let it sit for that amount of time based on all the research I did. A majority of posts and videos only recommended 10-15min. 10min as contact. Anything over that amount of time can lead to degrading of material from the bleach.

Hello; Fair enough. For what it is worth I have not seen any degrading of equipment from the long soaks and it has been over three years ago. As long as you are satisfied.
I do have a question. Was the 15 minute soak timed from the first moment the bleach was added? I guess I am asking if the bleach had time to become uniformly spread thru out the large tank. If you stirred the water up well that would have worked or perhaps added the bleach first or early and then filled with water that would have mixed the bleach in well.

 

[Rocksor]

The 15 minute soak should have happen after full water circulation throughout everything in the tank. This would mean it would take more than 15 minutes after adding the bleach. I've done 1 hour full water circulation with regular bleach with no issues to anything and even at a much higher concentration, mulitple times over 20 years of using equipment.

 

[Chelu]

Hello; Fair enough. For what it is worth I have not seen any degrading of equipment from the long soaks and it has been over three years ago. As long as you are satisfied.
I do have a question. Was the 15 minute soak timed from the first moment the bleach was added? I guess I am asking if the bleach had time to become uniformly spread thru out the large tank. If you stirred the water up well that would have worked or perhaps added the bleach first or early and then filled with water that would have mixed the bleach in well.

The 15min was timed after circulation. Also so it took a lot of extra time to just drain the 125g tank. Full transparency, it took maybe an extra half hour to just drain it. So I'm sure it soaked a lot longer. Lol draining a 125k took awhile.

 

[skjl47]

The 15min was timed after circulation. Also so it took a lot of extra time to just drain the 125g tank. Full transparency, it took maybe an extra half hour to just drain it. So I'm sure it soaked a lot longer. Lol draining a 125k took awhile.

Hello; Good deal.