cleaning out an acrylic tank

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Fishywishy

Large Fish
#1
Sep 19, 2006
184
2
0
#1
I just bought a 75 gal aacrylic tank (+stand filter etc) used (think I got a steal for $60), however it used to have goldfish in it, it's really really really dirty and smelly and crusty... but not scratched and everything working on it (the canister filter is brand new with the box...so I figure if I can't make the tank work, at least I got a new filter for the next tank I buy)

What are some good chemicals I can use to really clean it out good? I mean like will bleach make the acrylic turn cloudy? I don't care if I have to rinse it out for 4 hours straight.... it's just really disgusting right now. The person who own the tank said "Simple Green" because it wasn't toxic to the fish, however, I won't be putting fish in for quite awhile and I have the luxury of rinsing it out a lot and stuff whilst I paint the stand and clean out the filter and stuff.
 

Lotus

Lotus

Ultimate Fish
Moderator
#2
Aug 26, 2003
15,115
13
38
Southern California
home.earthlink.net
#2
Vinegar or bleach will work. We recently cleaned out a 125g acrylic tank, although it wasn't too dirty. I used something called Jungle Seri Clean to get rid of some of the gunk. As long as you rinse out afterwards, it's fine (it's made for cleaning out empty aquariums).

Be really careful with anything you use to clean it. Anything abrasive or hard will scratch the acrylic. Use only scrapers that are made for acrylic tanks.
 

F

Fishywishy

Large Fish
#3
Sep 19, 2006
184
2
0
#3
thanks lotus, I know some cleaners will "cloud" acrylic, and I didn't want to do that! I was hoping to just use a soft cloth (washcloth) and some sort of mix of bleach and water or some other cleaner and water then rinse repeatedly.

but, I went out to the garage, and hopefully someone with better basic math skills can help me out.

The tank is 80 inches long, 18 inches high, and 16 inches deep(width). (rectangular obviously) This gives me a volume of 23040 cubic inches. (correct me if i'm wrong (bxhxw). Then converting that to gallons, I come up with a volume of 99.74ish gal....... is this correct or did I mess up the formula somewhere?, the person I bought it from said it was 75gal (i just took their word for it, until I started looking at it, seemed bigger then that)

someone do the math and tell me...75 gals or not? this is important because I don't think they have the right filter for it or heaters and when I get this all cleaned up and ready......I kinda need to know how much water treatment and stuff.
 

nealio

nealio

Large Fish
#7
Aug 23, 2006
396
0
0
#7
oh no, don’t use bleach!

Bleach can and will cloud your acrylic tank over time.

Use Novus polish. You can get it online or at any Tap plastics. Not only will it buff out and scratches it will actually make your acrylic tank look clearer. It’s all silicone based so it doesn't hurt fish. I still recommend a very good rinse out before adding water again.


Here is a link of what it did to my acrylic tank. Its about half way down on the first page.
CLICK HERE
 

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