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sterilizing tanks


wolvo23

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Hi what do you use to sterilize tanks and accessories? I just cleaned everything with Aqua-san it contains Benzalkonium chloride then after it dried wiped the tank over with metho, will this be enough to totally sterilize everthing after a bad disease? thanks.

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Vinger works well

I have a always just drained them and left them in the sun for a day or two and then refilled. Most diseases require some sort of host to survive. Take away the host and they die

Josh

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The tank would be sterile, but I would want to make sure I washed all that crap out before putting fish in it

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a mild dose of bleach also does the trick. just remeber that you need to wash the tank thoroughly with fresh water and break down any remaining bleach with dechlorinator.

:clap I agree - bleach is the best product to use. I know someone that bleaches anything new that goes into a tank :shock: (except fish of course!)

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a mild dose of bleach also does the trick. just remeber that you need to wash the tank thoroughly with fresh water and break down any remaining bleach with dechlorinator.

I prefer to use good old fashioned potassium permanganate in situations where a bleach solution might be appropriate.

It's similar in effect but much easier to tell whether there's still any residue.

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a mild dose of bleach also does the trick. just remeber that you need to wash the tank thoroughly with fresh water and break down any remaining bleach with dechlorinator.

I prefer to use good old fashioned potassium permanganate in situations where a bleach solution might be appropriate.

It's similar in effect but much easier to tell whether there's still any residue.

common name :confused:

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I prefer to use good old fashioned potassium permanganate in situations where a bleach solution might be appropriate.

It's similar in effect but much easier to tell whether there's still any residue.

G'day Laurie

Where do you get the potassium permanganate from? (Condies Crystals - spelling???)

Also what is the dose you use?

Thanks

Matthew

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Where do you get the potassium permanganate from? (Condies Crystals - spelling???)

hi,

Yes it's also called condy's crystals.

I used to have a fairly decent supply that I got from a chook farmer who used it to sterilize water trays so I presume it can be sourced from rural/agricultural suppliers.

The last lot I got was just from a chemist though. (you don't need much so even chemist prices don't hurt that much).

As to dosage for sterilization purposes it's largely based on "whatever it takes to maintain the bright pink/purple colour for the period you want".

While it's oxidising it will be brightly coloured as the oxidation process turns it brown and eventually colourless.

To sterilize a tank compelte with substrate I just filled the tank with water and added the crystals in small lots (ended up being about a teaspoon for a 6x2x2 tank with a fair bit of substrate as I wanted it to be pretty serious)

I mixed the substrate around a fair bit to ensure it was all in contact wiyth the solution then left it for 12 hours.

As there wasn't much organisc material to oxdise it ws still bright at that stage so I dumped the water, rinsed and refilled (sodium thiosulphate ... ie prime deactivates it if you're particularly nervous)

Be very careful using it in a tank with fish. It isn't going to poison them the way bleach might but rather will drown them as that oxidisation process removes the oxygen form the water.

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