How to disinfect a tank

I bought a 72 gallon fish tank and it was from someones reef that was taken over by algae I was wondering the best way to disinfect all parts of the tank to make sure I kill everything.

 

viniger or a blach bath would be good

 

I would just use pure vinegar scrub it all down rinse and let it dry out. I don't really trust putting any other chemicals in the tank

 

Bleach works great, fill the tank with water and bleach, and let it soak for half hour to an hour, drain it, rinse it out with fresh water, then let it completely air dry for a day or two. Any residual bleach left will evaporate during the air dry.
The other suggestion of using vinegar will work as well, same basic procedure. The vinegar also works great at cutting limescale and coreline algea left on the glass.

 

I have used both vinegar and bleach on the power heads I got with the tank. Vinegar seemed to work best. How much vinegar do you think I need for a 72 gallon tank?

 

I used a gallon on mine, and scrubbed it, probably should have used at least 2 gallons though

 

I get a gallon of distilled white vinegar at the grocery, lay the tank on its side and pour in enough vinegar to cover the glass. If it has a bad scale I soak a towle in the vinegar and drape it over the glass so it soaks. Switch sides, front or back and do it all over again. The scale scrapes right off if it didn't soak off.

 

Vote for Vinegar here too ..

 

I wish I had used vinegar first before I scraped down the entire tank. The only place there is anything left is on the overflow. Guess I can use vinegar there and in the sump. I have bleached and vinegared all the equipment. I am planning on re plumbing the aquarium so I don't need to worry about the plumbing. Is there anything else I need to do to finish disinfecting it?