Fish tank cleaning help

chrisfreelander54

Basically to cut a long story short we used to have fish in a small hexagonal tank, eventually all the fish died and we never bothered to buy any more and just left the tank with water in, I never get round to cleaning it and it's been like this for a while now.

So now I need to empty it and give a clean either to enable me to sell or give away but I'm a bit worried about possible legionella or some form of bacteria been in it, is there a special chemical I need to kill of any bacteria, or can I add bleach or Milton to the water before I empty it?

Myser

My first thought would be something like Milton. You don't want to use a disinfectant/chemical which may be harmful to aquatic organisms.

Have you asked your local aquatics shop?

LEJC

Ive cleaned a few tanks out in the past and you need to be careful of the seals that join the joint around the glass....some abrasive cleaners and even disinfectants can weaken the seals over time and the tank will leak....you will probably find that you wont be able to remove the green from the sealant area perfectly if its quite badly tarnished.

In honesty I only ever use a small amount of diluted washing up liquid and a sponge cloth with plenty of gentle rubbing to get rid of the green.
Make sure you wear some rubber gloves and give your hands a good wash with anti bacterial handwash afterwards!!

I probably also recommend cleaning with a hose pipe attachment in the garden if you can and then you arnt transferring anything to or from the tank....the key is plenty of water to flush out everything well.

Another thing you could buy is a small glass cleaner,a bit like a magnet that attaches each side of the glass which when you wipe it over the glass helps to dislodge most of the green,fill the tank with water and wipe the magnet across the glass and that should get rid of quite a bit....you can buy them in pet shops or possibly ebay

This sort of thing
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AQUARIUM-FISH-TANK-ALGAE-MAGNET-GLASS-CLEANER-SCRUB-MAGNETIC-/261277390235?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item3cd558959b