Very dumb mistake

dustin0

So I bought a used 29 gallon from craigslist, the owner had never cleaned the tank. There were brown spots all over the glass and it was gross. So not know what I was doing to myself I bought a gallon of bleach and poured it all in. I filled the rest with water to clean it. Ive been letting water run through it for a whole day and I can still smell bleach any ideas on how to get rid of the bleach?

teddyzaper

keep doing w/c like as fast as u can, u might not be able to get it out.

jeaninel

Wow, a whole gallon of bleach in a 29? That's a lot! Try rinsing with extra dechlorinator in the water then letting the tank dry out in the sun for a day or two.

fish999

yeah you should be able to get it out. Maybe use running water rinse for a while then fill it, dechlor it, empty it out 3-4 times. As jeaninel suggested, dechlorinator would be the key thing, but since you used so much bleach and it's probably soaked into the cracks, I'd fill it, dechlor it, let it sit, then empty it several times.

dustin0

Yeah thanks for that, Ill try that and hopefully get it done by the weekend.

Angel079

Whip it down with vinegar (not 1 gallon, just some ) and wash out with HOT water few times and then do the dechlorinator water in it, soak & drain it, soak & drain it.
Not sure where you're at, but if you can have the tank sitting outside in the sun to dry out after this excerise is done.

Next tank purchase: Just use a LITTLE bit of vinegar to clean

WisFish

If it's really just chlorine, just rinse it out and let it dry. Chlorine naturally evaporates within 24 hours. That why if any of you have a swimming pool you'll remember that we have to add a stabilizer to keep the chlorine from evaporating. Putting the tank outside in a non-freezing climate will help it to evaporate more quickly. Even after this you may still smell it but it should be safe.

fish999

@WisFish Does chlorine sulphate evaporate and leave a residue? (or whatever the compound it is they use in bleach now)... I seem to faintly remember a whitish residue from evaporated bleach ...

WisFish

I believe it does. I looked at a bleach bottle I have and the active ingrediant is Sodium Hypochlorite. Then I did a little research and found this:

"Total evaporation of sodium hypochlorite solutions yields water and sodium chloride."

And sodium chloride is salt. I'm not an expert so I welcome comments.

I still think if the aquarium is rinsed out real well using a cloth to wipe it out it should be fine.

fish999

That doesn't sound so bad. Thanks for researching that. A little extra salt can't hurt much even if a little does get missed.