I've been having a horrible time with fin rot in my 180 and it refuses to go away so I took the fish out and threw them in a 10 gallon to treat them. Now that there is no fish in the tank, i want to make sure this disease never comes back. I was wondering what is the best way to sterilize my 180 gallon. Should i use bleach? How much? I have some pool chlorine tabs and on the instructions it says to use 2-4 tabs per 10000 gallons daily, maybe i should use 1 tab?
Sterilizing my tank...
- Thread starter Fishyfan
- Start date
Don't use chloring tabs, dry chlorine is too hard to work with (rinsing).
You need to completely drain the tank afterwards, use liguid bleach (clorox type), approx. 1 cup per 50g. Clean filters, media, substrate, nets, siphon hoses, little castle and diver, air lines etc. Rinse thoroughly, then rinse two more times. Put whatever is going to be in the tank in it and fill with 6" of water ...If there is chlorine in your water system... (don't dechlorinate yet), let stand for 3 days and check chlorine levels, If high use appropriate amount of dechlor and let stand another 2 days (we are looking to see if chlorine is leaching out of anything), check again, if levels are low, finish filling the tank and check again. If normal rise in chlorine is found treat accordingly and start the cycling process (bio-spira etc.). If you have chloramines treat to remove at the start of the refill then check for leaching.
Good luck and keep use posted,
Dr Joe
.
While tank is cycling hopefully the fish are getting better, don't put them back into the big tank untill a month (30 days) after you know they are cured.
You need to completely drain the tank afterwards, use liguid bleach (clorox type), approx. 1 cup per 50g. Clean filters, media, substrate, nets, siphon hoses, little castle and diver, air lines etc. Rinse thoroughly, then rinse two more times. Put whatever is going to be in the tank in it and fill with 6" of water ...If there is chlorine in your water system... (don't dechlorinate yet), let stand for 3 days and check chlorine levels, If high use appropriate amount of dechlor and let stand another 2 days (we are looking to see if chlorine is leaching out of anything), check again, if levels are low, finish filling the tank and check again. If normal rise in chlorine is found treat accordingly and start the cycling process (bio-spira etc.). If you have chloramines treat to remove at the start of the refill then check for leaching.
Good luck and keep use posted,
Dr Joe
.
While tank is cycling hopefully the fish are getting better, don't put them back into the big tank untill a month (30 days) after you know they are cured.
Ok, the tanks been empty for about 2.5-3 weeks. Last friday, I turned up the temp to 90 degrees(I read that the bacteria doesn't do well in high temps, is that true?), I put four cups of bleach in the tank, and let it sit until yesterday. Yesterday, I completely emptied it, cleaned out the sumps, filled it back up and didn't dechlorinize. Once the chlorine is gone, should i buy a test fish and see if the bacteria comes back? Would a male guppy be a good choice because of its long fins? How long will it take before I see signs of fin rot?
no... if you bleached... its fine... make sure you rise it good... you are ready to go!Fishyfan;839363;839363 said:
