cleaning a tank that smell alittle like urine

[newreef06]

I bought a 40g long from a lady on Craigslist today. It came with a nice coralife PC 3ft fixture. I got everything for $30.00. Im using the 40 long for a sump for my 90g. It still had a little sand in it and corline agela on the glass. aAfter I got it home it smelled a little like urine. She had small dogs. Im wondering If they urined in the tank. How can I clean It. Is it worth using. Some one told me blech and warm water. May be someone can help me out

Scott

[ka2zesmi786]

if you use bleach, scrub and make sure you rinse it out real well. after that, i dont see why it wouldnt work out.

[newreef06]

thanks

[Hiker_]

You can also try vinegar.

[travis32]

I agree, I cleaned out my used 55g with windex. It was completely empty but, it was used to store "rock, cc, and sand" while the person was switching tanks and it had standing water in it from his tank for a few weeks until I was ready to set it up.. I cleaned it really well with windex, scrubbed, and scrubbed a dub dub the heck out of it with warm water. Dried it out as much as I could.. Then, let it set for a few days until my stand came in.

Smell was gone, and so far life is thriving in it! I would also agree bleech is the only thing that's going to touch any form of urine!

[ka2zesmi786]

why rinse out the urine?! it'll add more to the salinity LOL jk jk.

[smootie]

You can also try vinegar.

+1. If you use vinegar, it'll help dissolve the coralline and any hard water stains on the glass so you can scrub less. Laziness FTW!

[jenglish]

RInse it? It is already full of ammonia to start the cycle :lol:


In all seriousness bleach is a fine disinfectant in case there is nasty critters in there and vinegar removes mineral deposits (which may also be holding toxic heavy metals like copper).