Bleach in an aquarium redo

[Barb]

Hi all! For the last three years I’ve had 40 gallon long with tons of plants and 10 fish. Because I am way over planted and way under stocked, I haven’t had to do water changes for the last 2 1/2 years. The fish are doing great, my water parameters are great, but I have a boatload of black beard algae in the tank. I decided it was time for a complete redo. Yesterday I moved my fish to a 20 gallon tank while I clean out the 40 gallon. I was so excited, because I have a brand new baby cory cat!! So adorable and tiny!!! so, my quandary is that I picked the most terrible time of the year to do this. I live in Michigan, and it’s cold and snowy outside! 😋 I have the 40 gallon tank, drained, and all of the substrate removed. And my plants are in buckets right now. What I’m wondering is if I can clean the 40 gallon with a little bit of bleach to kill off any remaining black beard algae? The tank is too big for me to lift it off the stand to get it into another place and rinse it out. I’m wondering if after I clean it, I could use a little Prime to inactivate the bit of bleach? Or if maybe the bleach would gas off after a day or two? I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

[Guppysnail]

If the tank is empty spray hydrogen peroxide in it. It breaks down to water and leaves zero residue. Any plants with algae can be put through reverse respiration with plain seltzer also leaving no harmful residue. Bleach leaves harmful residue. 

 

[lefty o]

there are those that use bleach, but if you just have to do it, hydrogen peroxide is a better option imo. for me personally, bleach doesnt come anywhere near my fish tanks.

[RennjiDK]

You can certainly use bleach, and many people do. Be sure to do it in a well ventilated area and to rinse well / dechlorinate afterwards. H2O2 is also an option, but is nowhere near as powerful an oxidizer as bleach. I've had several different algae survive a 5 min dip so YMMV. Cheap grain alcohol is my go to disinfectant, evaporates quickly, and presents no danger to fish if added to the tank in reasonable quantities.