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A Come back

Sirkavu

Sirkavu

Member
Joined
15 Apr 2018
Messages
174
Location
London
Hello Everyone!!!

I have decided to grab my 180L Juwel tank from the dead and revive it! At the moment I have a 60L tank and as it is going very well my heart asked me to resuscitate the Juwel.

Yet, before I start I do need a lot of help as it has accumulated a huge amount of algae and I believe mold and I need some help on how to clean it and get it ready to operate again. Also if in the state you will see, if I can re-utilize my gravel.

At the moment my main focus is making sure it is all clean and ready so I can then set up my tank. The idea is either a jungle style or a wood style.

Jungle style - typical dutch style of aquascaping
Wood style - I am thinking to have some wood but not too much. I would like to see a small amount of maybe spider wood in the middle with quite a few plants with the wood and then some plants around. Creating a good middle focus and having some clear space around.

Any ideas or help please do let me know. I am still thinking about what scape to go with but in the meanwhile, I thought it would be great if I could start by cleaning the tank :D

Thank you :)

P.S.: I am aware the pictures are sad :/
 

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Wow, that's certainly in need of a clean!

If that's a soil substrate, I'd throw it away that full of mould. If its a hard inert gravel you could try and wash it thoroughly, a bucket at a time with a hose pipe - it's going to take some work, and only you can decide if that's worth the effort over buying a couple more new bags. It also depends whether you really want to use that gravel in the new scape, over soil or sand.

As for the rest of the tank, it needs a good scrub with a non-scratch scour pad and some warm water (being careful not to get any hard bits of limescale or stray gravel under the scour pad that may scratch the glass), and an old toothbrush for the silicone seams and hard to reach areas.

If it were me, I'd probably add some thin bleach to the warm water too to help kill the mould and algae. Then rinse thoroughly, and go again if need be with a warm citric acid solution to remove any persistent marks.

On smaller tanks I usually take them outside and lay them on one side (on a piece of MDF with a layer of foam on top) to do all that so I can get the hose on them, but that may not be so easy on a 180 litre tank.
 
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great mushroom scape potential 😛

..but yeah.. give it a good bleach or a lot of vinegar. wold love to see the after photos, when it is back in shape
 
Wookii said:
Wow, that's certainly in need of a clean!

If that's a soil substrate, I'd throw it away that full of mould. If its a hard inert gravel you could try and wash it thoroughly, a bucket at a time with a hose pipe - it's going to take some work, and only you can decide if that's worth the effort over buying a couple more new bags. It also depends whether you really want to use that gravel in the new scape, over soil or sand.

As for the rest of the tank, it needs a good scrub with a non-scratch scour pad and some warm water (being careful not to get any hard bits of limescale or stray gravel under the scour pad that may scratch the glass), and an old toothbrush for the silicone seams and hard to reach areas.

If it were me, I'd probably add some thin bleach to the warm water too to help kill the mould and algae. Then rinse thoroughly, and go again if need be with a warm citric acid solution to remove any persistent marks.

On smaller tanks I usually take them outside and lay them on one side (on a piece of MDF with a layer of foam on top) to do all that so I can get the hose on them, but that may not be so easy on a 180 litre tank.
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Great info, thank you very much!

If you don't advise cleaning and keeping the gravel I might just get a new one and start from scratch. Will cost a little more but might be safer and easier for me.

Can I get any bleach or is there anything I should avoid? I will probably start cleaning tomorrow, then during the weekend draft a plan of what I want to do with it :)
 
Sirkavu said:
Can I get any bleach or is there anything I should avoid?
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You want the supermarket branded 'thin' bleach - the watery non-perfumed stuff (not the thick perfumed stuff for toilets). Just make sure you rinse the entire tank thoroughly when you've finished using it, to wash it all away.
 
Courtneybst said:
Out of curiosity, where do you get yours from? I've always looked for thin bleach and still never found any in a shop.
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To be fair I've not bought any in long time, as I have a considerable old stock of 12% Sodium Hypochlorite from when I used to recharge Purigen, so I'm still using that up whenever I need bleach for cleaning. Is the standard cheap stuff not available any more in the likes of Tesco then? Like this stuff:

snapshotimagehandler_1702599480.jpeg


Looking on the Tesco store, it does say out of stock, so I don't know.


Morrisons seem to have some:


and ASDA:


Then there loads of options on Amazon, but in larger containers than most folks will want:

Amazon product ASIN B0068QRN32
 
Wookii said:
To be fair I've not bought any in long time, as I have a considerable old stock of 12% Sodium Hypochlorite from when I used to recharge Purigen, so I'm still using that up whenever I need bleach for cleaning. Is the standard cheap stuff not available any more in the likes of Tesco then? Like this stuff:

snapshotimagehandler_1702599480.jpeg


Looking on the Tesco store, it does say out of stock, so I don't know.


Morrisons seem to have some:


and ASDA:


Then there loads of options on Amazon, but in larger containers than most folks will want:

Amazon product ASIN B0068QRN32
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Yeah I think Morrisons or Asda will be the best bet. I'll check it out if I go past one!

Thanks
 
Thanks for sharing!!! Tomorrow I will be there. I wonder why it is difficult to find it haha couldn't find it anywhere.

A few pictures of the update on the cleaning - I just started now and have to stop as I need more sponges to clean the algae but so far I am very happy as I see I will be able to actually. Tomorrow should finish with the cleaning and will get some soil to start setting it up, at least the soil, rocks, and maybe wood. Then I will see what plants to get with the ideas I have and the setup I managed to make.

The first pictures is my filter - wondering if I should also get a new one? I bet anything good is dead by now hehe
 

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Hello Guys!

So the good news - I have cleaned the whole tank - 99% at least :) I have put some pictures for you to see. @Courtneybst I couldn't clean it outside as you did due to the wind so I took it to the bath tub hehe

The only question is if I can keep the black part where the filter goes as I can seem to clean that part thoroughly :/

Tomorrow I will try and get some soil in and start playing around with the scape. I was thinking to start with DSM but from next week I will be home 2 days a week and working outside London the other 5. Would it be ok If I leave it unsupervised for those 5 days? My girlfriend can keep an eye on and follow some instructions tho.
 

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Sirkavu said:
Hello Guys!

So the good news - I have cleaned the whole tank - 99% at least :) I have put some pictures for you to see. @Courtneybst I couldn't clean it outside as you did due to the wind so I took it to the bath tub hehe
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Great Job ! Looks like new! (almost :lol: ).

Sirkavu said:
Tomorrow I will try and get some soil in and start playing around with the scape. I was thinking to start with DSM but from next week I will be home 2 days a week and working outside London the other 5. Would it be ok If I leave it unsupervised for those 5 days?
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Leaving an aquarium unsupervised for 5 days should never be a problem - as long as you have someone to feed any livestock (but you wont have that for a while obviously).

Of course after you fill it with water you want to be around for a few days to make sure it wont leak!! on rare occasions tanks that are emptied and moved around develop a leak when refilled.

Cheers,
Michael
 
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Hey guys!!! Sorry for the long time out but I had a cut on my knee cartilage and had to be away recovering.

I am slowly returning to normal and starting to get stuff ready for the set up yet, I have found another challenge - my Dragon stone. They had black algae before and I tried to put them in boiling water and clean them with a toothbrush and green pad but it feels almost impossible to fully clean and I am afraid to put them in the tank and have the remaining algae come back alive :/

What would you suggest? I have attached some pictures for you to see how it is.

Thank you all and hopefully I will get some interest back :)
 

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I've yet to try it myself but it looks like 3% Hydrogen Peroxide might be a wise investment. 5l added to a bucket of water and then a good soak.
I would be wary of using bleach as Dragon Stone is full of voids which contain some form of clay of which may well contaminate the water for some time.
Cheers!
 
bazz said:
I've yet to try it myself but it looks like 3% Hydrogen Peroxide might be a wise investment. 5l added to a bucket of water and then a good soak.
I would be wary of using bleach as Dragon Stone is full of voids which contain some form of clay of which may well contaminate the water for some time.
Cheers!
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Thanks! I did not use bleach for that purpose too, only boiled water. I will try your method and see how it goes :)
 
bazz said:
I've yet to try it myself but it looks like 3% Hydrogen Peroxide might be a wise investment. 5l added to a bucket of water and then a good soak.
I would be wary of using bleach as Dragon Stone is full of voids which contain some form of clay of which may well contaminate the water for some time.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
No luck my friend. How much of the HP would you put? I put around 100ml in my sink which has all my rocks and as it cooled down I could not wash the algae out :/
 
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