HOW TO CLEAN OLD TANK?

[reef addict]

just purchased an old 210gl RR tank from wamas member. Anyway, getting ready to thoroughly clean it, before setting up. It has a lot of stuff in between 1/2" back wall and hard to get it. Is there anyone in the room encounter this? Is it safe to use high pressure washer? What kind of solution should I should to get all dried algae?

 

 

Many thanks,

[Big Country]

Fill it up with water and a couple gallons of vinegar and let it soak for awhile, then just use a scraper or razor blades to take off all the old algae, worked like a charm when I bought my 180 used a few years ago. Personally I'd be afraid to use a pressure washer on an aquarium.

Edited April 22, 2013 by Big Country

[reef addict]

Million thanks!! What about in between the bulkhead? There is only 1/4" in between the 2 wall and it's hard to get the old algae.

[ArtFully Acrylic (Adam B)]

Can you not remove the bulkhead and clean? Personally, I would replace the bulkheads anyway. Cheap insurance if they are old and have been sitting a while...

[reef addict]

I mean the back wall, not the bulkhead. I would like to replace the back walls, but is there anyone in the area that sells this and is it easy to put it back?

[MBVette]

do you just want the vinyl sheet to stick to the back of the tank? If so you can get vinyl online, Im sure amazon has it. Or you could just spray paint the tank black and not worry about the vinyl.

 

And just fill the tank with a few gallons on vinegar for a few days and any algae will wipe right off with a sponge.

[reef addict]

not wall paper, but the overflow cover. I thought they call that back wall.

[MBVette]

So you want to change out the overflow box? You could pull it out and just get a new one and reseem it with silicone I guess. But if its holding water I dont see why you would change it out.

[Origami]

Soak it with a mild acid solution, as advised above using either vinegar or a tank full of water and a couple of cups of muriatic acid. Then, scrape it lightly (using a gloved hand and arm) using a plastic scraper (since it's the overflow cover that you're interested in) and/or possibly a stiff brush. It's not important to get the cover new looking. It tends to be one of the early parts that gets a nice, natural covering of coralline algae.

[ArtFully Acrylic (Adam B)]

If you are talking about the actual overflow boxes then the answer is it depends. If you don't want to be troubled with cleaning them, if the tank is glass and they are siliconed in place then yes, they aren't that hard to replace.

 

You would just need a razor blade to cut them out and then use the razor blade to remove any remaining silicone left on the back of the glass. Follow that with Acetone to get off the remaining residue. Then the surface will be prepped for your new overflow boxes to go in. Once you have new overflows you would just silicone them back in place.

 

If the tank is acrylic then you can't easily remove the overflows. They would have to be cut out as they are bonded/seamed to the back panel. This process isn't as easy but could be done with a jig saw mostly, but would leave behind likely at least an inch of the material. Therefore, new boxes would need to be a bit bigger to hide this material.

 

If you do decide you want new boxes made you can send me a PM with dimensions and I can give you a quote.

 

Regarding cleaning though everyone else is spot on with the vinegar soak. It works well on both glass and acrylic and would get off the majority if not all of everything you are trying to remove.

[Shoelace]

I would recommend against removing the bulkheads to clean them unless you are definitely going to replace the gaskets. The gaskets get oxidized/vulcanized to the glass and harden over time and may not reseal if reinstalled. I learned the hard way a while ago