Best way to clean a tank?

[mapleredta]

it has some algae where the silicone is, i havent tried good ol' fashion elbow grease yet. Any tips?

EDIT: its empty by the way.

 

[flyingarmy]

Elbow grease and a small amount of vinegar. Be careful about cutting out the silicone, recently some ARC'ers have had leaks due to removing and resealing tanks. Good luck!

 

[mapleredta]

im not even going to mess with that stuff. i just want to clean it.

 

[stroid]

yup white vinegar and water in a spray bottle with a algae scrapper preferrably a razor blade. Should work great!

 

[george]

What kind of algae? Green or purple/calcerious? If it's the former, bleach is fine, IMO, as long as you rinse the whole thing thoroughly afterwards (preferably in warm water with a chlorine neutralizer like Prime). If the latter, vinegar will remove it quite nicely with no elbow grease.

If you do bleach, don't use it full strength, but rather fill up the tank and add bleach giving it time to work. Same thing for the vinegar. I usually put a power head in to keep things circulating and maximize your chemical reaction.

 

[mapleredta]

well it doesnt even have any water in it and it wont for a while. Thanks for the advice.

 

[nova65chic]

what kind of tank did you get? congratz on getting another one!!

 

[mapleredta]

picked up a 125. it needs a little work but i think i can handle it. i notice you have mated pair of clowns? were those mine?

 

[nova65chic]

yup they are still doing great

 

[dannybradley]

If it's on the silicone, use vinegar and a aquarium cleaning sponge. I use the API Big Job pads and cut them to a smaller size. They work well on the silicone and aren't all too rough on it.