Sterilise Tank

[TW]

I need to sterilise a tank & it's filter that was recently used for some very sick fish.

Not sure whether to use bleach or PP at a stronger than normal strength.

Bleach is probably the stronger (better?) choice, but I can't move the tank. It must be done in situ. Plan is to fill the tank with 10% bleach / 90% water & run the filter for a day or so (minus the media, which was removed, washed & boiled).

Next to the tank to be treated is another tank with peppermint bristlenose & cardinal tetras. I am wondering if the fumes would be harmful to fish in nearby tanks?

What do members here think? Should I use the bleach, or go the safer route of PP. PP, I've been told, will not kill nasties as well as bleach would.

[ILLUSN]

At a high concentration, PP is VERY effective, Its my prefered method if i have other fish nearby (bleach lets off chlorine gas especially when acidified). with the pp just check on it every hour or so and if it starts to loose its purple color add a little more.

if you could pull the tank out I'd say go bleach with a little HCl leave it in the sun and its all safe

[Robdog]

I'd go with the bleach and just make sure that the area around the tank can be well ventilated because of those fumes.
Personally I'd want to bleach the filter media along with the tank. Try and nuke everything in the one hit.

[TW]

Jothy, if I go with PP, what strength do you suggest?

Rob, the media has been washed many times & then boiled for 10 minutes, put in fresh water & boiled annother 5 minutes. Do you think that won't be enough?

You think I should put the media back in the filter, before I add either bleach or PP?

The room doesn't really have good ventilation. It is in a garage with no window. The tank next to it is so close that their glass walls almost touch. On the weekend, I could keep the roller door up - but not for all the time. I had planned to leave either the bleach or PP solution running through the filter for 24hours or more.

[TW]

Can't edit the above, so therefore making a new post.

Whilst not impossible, it is not practical to move the tank. It is on the 3rd shelf of a rack of tanks & is partially plumbed ready for connection to a sump.

[ILLUSN]

I'd add a teaspoon or 2/100L, i just hate having that chlorine smell near other tanks, chlorine is a gas and like any gas can diffuse into water, even trace ammounts as we all know are toxic to fish. I think its too risky, adding acid to the bleach makes more chlorine, hence better sterilization there are reports that in order to kill spores non acidifed bleach wont do the job where as acidified bleach will.

[TW]

I'd add a teaspoon or 2/100L Do you mean:-

1-2 teaspoons of the dry cyrstals, or
1-2 teaspoons of the stock solution made up as per instructions on ozarowana's sticky http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14585&start=0

[ILLUSN]

1-2tsp of crystals

[TW]

Thanks, I'll get it started tonight.

I will go with the PP, as I am almost as scared of using the bleach so close to my peppermints as I am of the nasties that may be living in the tank.

After the PP has been running through for 24-48hrs, I might just leave everything empty & dry for a further week & then surely everything should be well dead.

Anything else I should do?

[ILLUSN]

not really just give it a nice good wipe over when you drain it with papper towel to remove all the brown residue from the PP.

[TW]

BTW, I have never seen anything like the muck that was in this canister filter. During the short time I had those albinos (early May to late July) I had to clean out that filter several times (even though it had a sponge pre filter). Within 2 weeks of a clean, the media was almost like it had been set in a weak gelatine solution (not quite as stiff as fully set jelly, as it still allowed the flow through of water). Imagine you've made a semi firm jelly & before it was set, you stirred through a good portion of small berries (the berries = the eheim media). I have never dealt with anything so horrid before. Anyone else experienced this?

[ILLUSN]

no robyn, cant say I have, i get a similar substance in my bristlenose tanks on sponges and flyscreen but never in a filter