Preparing tank after teardown

[thesassyindian]

Hello everyone,

I'm planning to drain my tank tomorrow and will be passing it along to a family friend for his daughter. Could anyone advise on the best procedure for preparing the tank for transfer to another hobbyist?

Is it as simple as draining the tank, scraping off any coral encrusting the walls, and then filling it with a citric acid solution?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Srt4eric]

Pretty much.

 

[IOnceWasLegend]

Yep; except, depending on how encrusted the coral/coralline is on the walls, you may want to add the citric acid solution first since it'll help break that down too.

 

[thesassyindian]

Yep; except, depending on how encrusted the coral/coralline is on the walls, you may want to add the citric acid solution first since it'll help break that down too.

Pretty much.

Thank you!

 

[thesassyindian]

For how long should I leave the citric acid solution in there?

Would leaving it overnight be too much? Will it weaken the seams?

 

[richiev]

If you dump the acid in before draining it'll save you a handful of gallons of water waste.

I'm sure there's things that say otherwise online, but on a fluval size tank I personally wouldn't be very concerned. I'd let it soak you a long time. Short enough that my place didn't stink (eg not a week), long enough that I don't have to put effort into scraping (hours to day or so).

 

[thesassyindian]

If you dump the acid in before draining it'll save you a handful of gallons of water waste.

I'm sure there's things that say otherwise online, but on a fluval size tank I personally wouldn't be very concerned. I'd let it soak you a long time. Short enough that my place didn't stink (eg not a week), long enough that I don't have to put effort into scraping (hours to day or so).

Wait, so add in citric powder straight to the saltwater?

 

[richiev]

Wait, so add in citric powder straight to the saltwater?

Yes, that's what I meant. Someone may chime in otherwise, but it works in any water. I assume there's a slight increase in acid you need to add if you use saltwater, because it starts at a higher pH and has inherent buffering capacity, but it's all water anyway.

I've done this myself, but mostly out of laziness.

Few things easier for cleaning than dumping the powder in an already setup tank with pumps, letting it sit for a day, and then scraping.

 

[RandyC]

How bad is the algae encrusted? If it’s not bad, just empty and use a razor blade to scrape it off. Then just use a Dobbie scrubbing pad to scrub the rest of the algae. I never fill up a tank with citric acid or vinegar, costs too much now for citric acid and is unnecessary. I just use a little (maybe a gallon or two) to help with the elbow grease. This probably works for tanks under 40-50 gallons because they’re still manageable to move around as necessary.