Restarting An Old Tank

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Fire Eel
MFK Member
Oct 11, 2008
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Malaysia
I have a 120 gallon tank that's been sitting there for about one year now with equipment and water in it..
The previous inhabitants were dead from some kind of disease, they were oozing liquids out before death..
Since the removal of the dead fishes, I just left the tank as it is for a year and planning to restart the tank now..
A few days ago, I siphoned out all the remaining tank water and removed all filter medias from the tank for some cleaning..
Now my main question is can I just refill the tank with tap water to kill off any remaining pathogens that might still be around? I'm also thinking of adding some aquarium salt although I'm not sure if salt does anything to kill bad bacterias..
I have heard chlorine is used as disinfectant in water treatment so was wondering if this might work?
Moving the tank outside for a thorough cleaning using detergent is not possible as it's just too much work to move the tank from the third floor.. And I'm not keen on using any chemicals in my tank..
Please advise, thanks in advance..
 
Chlorine could work, if you have a test kit you can dose some then leave it to gas off.

Should work I think :)
 
Hendre said:
Chlorine could work, if you have a test kit you can dose some then leave it to gas off.

Should work I think :)
Click to expand...
How long do you think I should keep the fresh tap water in the tank before draining it out?
And do I need to refill and redrain multiple times? And do I need to add aquarium salt?
 
I'm no expert but I'd say empty the old water, refill and add additional chlorine to disinfect everything then either gas off or blast it with dechlorinator :)
 
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Hello; I have used chlorine to disinfect tanks and equipment. You will need to use something like PRIME to treat the residue when the tank is set up and before adding fish.

A salt paste can be used but may not kill off pathogens as well as Clorox. After a good cleaning of tanks I have made a thick paste of salt and water. I used the paste to both scrub the glass because it does not scratch the glass and to kill off things by dehydration. I leave the paste to dry on the glass. Afterward a simple rinsing will wash off the salt. A much less toxic method with no smell.
Much care needs to be used when scrubbing with the paste. The salt does not scratch but if any grit, sand or such is still in the tank that can get into the paste and that stuff will scratch the glass.
 
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I agree with Hendre and Jeff on this.

Some viruses / bacteria can survive a long time without a host, then become active. Columnaris, for example, can survive at least 5 months with no host. It also is killed by chloramine, but at levels 4 times what is typically put in the water supply.

If you use chlorine (as from a pool supply), add enough to dose up to at least 30 ppm (twice the amount needed to kill off columnaris) and maintain that level for a couple days. Common tap water isn't enough to kill off the most resistant forms of pathogen.

The other option is bleach, which can also be neutralized with dechlorinator. I would suggest peroxide as well, but I have only seem minimal information on that, although it does seem to be highly effective.
 
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I've never bothered with chlorine but I have used good old hot water when cleaning such tanks.....as hot as my hand can take it while scrubbing the inside surfaces of the tank.
 
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