If you’re as much a fan of used deals as I am, you’ll know that aquariums can be absolute bargains if you find ones with no leaks or cracks in a moving sale. Once you get your new prize home, you’ll definitely want to give it a good cleaning to remove dust, bacteria, and lime deposits.
However nearly all of the standard cleaning agents on hand are terrible for fish and plant health! So how can we clean a fish tank without harming our pets? Enter vinegar, one of the most useful cleaning agents to keep on hand!
Why Should I Use Vinegar?
Wondering if you should use vinegar or not? This section explains why it may be a great option when cleaning your fish tank.
Disinfectant Powers
At 4 to 7% purity, distilled white vinegar is an inexpensive, easily sourced, and very environmentally friendly way to not only clean a fish tank but floors, countertops, and other areas of your home.
White distilled vinegar isn’t as strong as commercial disinfectants or soap when it comes to killing germs. But it is significantly better than using water alone. The acetic acid produced by fermenting bacteria creates an acidic climate that weakens or kills off competitors for a food source.
Vinegar gains a boost in disinfecting power when salt is added as well! Together, salt and household distilled vinegar will kill off a significant number of dormant spores waiting for you to refill an emptied aquarium. And best of all, the combination is non-toxic in trace amounts to fish and plants.
Hard Water Deposits
Aquarists and home owners alike often have issues with hard water. Dissolved carbonates and other minerals are harmless to humans but can cause issues in plumbing systems, including the buildup of white hard water deposits. The same holds true for aquariums as water evaporates.
Hard water deposits are particularly troublesome in aquariums because commercial products are poisonous to fish and plants. The deposits can be rock-hard if left to accumulate for a long time and if you don’t get all of it the leftover white residue is unattractive and a sign of poor maintenance.
Fortunately, the acidity of vinegar means it can help break down the carbonate-rich deposits without leaving toxic residues that harm aquatic life.
Cleaning a Fish Tank with Vinegar
This section teaches you exactly how to clean your aquarium with vinegar.
Disinfecting an Aquarium
Let me first say that I don’t recommend ever disinfecting a tank that already has healthy fish. Even heavy spring cleanings are best avoided because the bacteria of an aquarium are important to the nitrogen cycle. By killing them off you may end up with New Tank Syndrome, a deadly biological imbalance that can result in dead fish despite your good intentions.
This process is best done with a used tank you’re looking to add fish to. First, take a wet rag and wipe away any easily removed dust and grime, which will only foul the water and dilute the ability of your vinegar to clean.
Next, wipe the sides and bottom dry and give it time to air dry thoroughly. Once dried, add your vinegar to a spray bottle or place it in a bowl that you can dip a cleaning rag into.
If you like, keep some table or sea salt on hand to act as a fine grit. Salt can help polish out rough deposits on the glass and trace amounts are entirely harmless even to freshwater fish.
A word of warning: stay away from salt if cleaning an acrylic aquarium! Acrylic is much softer than glass and scratches very easily. Salt and scrubbing pads rated for glass are a recipe for trouble when cleaning acrylic.
Removing Hard Water Stains
If you already have fish at home, you’ll need to move your fish to a holding environment, such as a quarantine tank, since you may need more vinegar than you think! However for light deposits in medium to large aquariums, it’s enough to drain the tank an inch or so past the lime deposits, wipe them down, and wait for the section to fully dry.
Once dried and exposed, you can dab vinegar right onto the hard water deposits directly with a towel or fill a spray bottle if you’re treating the entire aquarium. Once well soaked give the solution 10 to 20 minutes to work.
The acidity of vinegar will loosen up hard water stains and make them much easier to remove. For water line lime deposits a razor blade or algae scraper can be used to flake away at the white scale.
Old aquariums left to air dry typically have a white hazy lime film that needs a scrub brush to remove. If purchasing a second-hand marine aquarium coralline algae can also create the same problem. A second drying and vinegar spray may be needed in either case.
Trace amounts of acetic acid will have a minor impact on the acidity of your aquarium. So be sure to do a pH test both before and after cleaning! This way you can be sure you haven’t caused a potentially fatal swing before re-adding your fish.
Soaking Dirty Equipment
If your filter components, heater, and other interior equipment are caked with lime or coralline algae a vinegar bath can help loosen or entirely remove these deposits.
Simply fill a bucket with enough vinegar to submerge the tools and then leave them there for 1 to 2 days. Keep in mind that you’ll want to add vinegar if you have several items or heavy deposits. As lime gets removed the pH of the solution rises, making it less effective at pulling off additional mineral deposits.
After the soak, give your components a rinse under running water while scrubbing to remove any loose debris! I’d also recommend soaking them for a few hours to neutralize any remaining vinegar and prevent troublesome pH swings in your aquarium.
Refer to this video for a basic breakdown on the vinegar bucket soaking process!
Conclusion
Few cleaning products are as safe and easy to find as distilled white vinegar! From its antibacterial properties to its ability to break up lime deposits, vinegar is a tool every aquarist should know how to use!
