Preparing Bowl #1

Cleaning the Tank

Removing the gummy residue from the tape that was on the tank.

One of the biggest is hurdles we had to face when cleaning the used tank was removing the gummy residue that was left from the packing tape.

We didn't want to scratch the used tank any more than it already was so scrubbing of the residue was not really an option.  We also didn't want to use harsh chemicals because we were afraid that anything strong enough to dissolve the residue might also damage the acrylic tank itself.

To prevent any damage we decided to use the gummy side of packing tape to pull the residue off the tank.  This was a long process but it worked well.

Cleaning the Glass (Acrylic)

Because the tank was made of acrylic and not glass we had to be careful not to scratch the surface.  Our first solution was to clean the tank with a dish cloth and a mild soap solution and then fill the tank with water and hydrogen peroxide to clean and sterilize it.

This may have been the best solution however we got a little lazy and decided to clean the tank with a fairly strong solution of water and bleach.

Cleaning the Gravel

Not knowing what diseases might be in the gravel we wanted to make sure it was clean and safe for our fish also.  We considered just throwing it out and replacing it but decided that would be wasteful.  Cleaning the gravel with bleach might work but we were afraid that it would be difficult to get rid of any bleach residue.

Eventually we decided to sterilize the gravel by placing it in a pan and baking it at 400 degrees F. for a half hour.  After that we rinsed the gravel just as we would if it were new gravel from the store.