How to clean a fish tank with lemon juice.

Why should you clean a fish tank before reuse

When preparing a fish tank to be used again it is a good idea to give it a good clean out. There will often be a build up of calcium and other minerals (white crust) above the waterline on the glass from water splashing. As well as any algae spores or other nasties which may survive being dried out so don't assume everything is dead.

I had a large amount of built up calcium from lots of splashing from the spray bar and also this tank was left half empty for a while allowing more to build up down the sides.There was also a substantial amount of algae covering the glass in some of the chambers from when it was previously running.

What tools do you need to clean an aquarium?

• Metal scraping blade
• Lemon juice
• Scourer (Scrubbing pad)
• Scraping blade
• Hydrogen Peroxide (optional) 

Everything is easily available at most supermarkets.

How to clean a used fish tank:

To begin with I use a scraping blade to scrape off a lot of built up calcium quickly. You can be fairly rough as there is no chance of scratching the glass, just need to be careful around the silicon so as not to damage it.
Once the majority is gone I then use a fairly strong lemon juice solution and a scrubbing pad or some filter floss to scrub off the rest. As lemon juice is highly acidic it helps to breaks down the calcium very quickly. When you are using anything to scrub the glass you need to be careful that you don't get any sand particles caught as this will scratch the glass.
An optional step is to clean with a concentrated hydrogen peroxide solution to completely remove any traces of algae or any other nasties from the tank previously. I will generally splash this around and wipe it over all the surfaces of the tank and allow it to sit for a few minutes. Once the aquarium has had a good rinse out with fresh water then it will be ready to use. 

The Finished Product: