New guy needs help!

[ThatNewGuy]

So today I bought a 55g and I have a few questions, it was used for as salt water tank before should I take any extra precautions because of this? Also I cleaned it with water and scrubbed it down as usual but when I brought it in and put it on my stand I noticed it got the wood a little wet, I've yet to fill it up and I will do so tomorrow but I'm case there is a leak how do I deal with it? Do just use normal non toxic silicone or is there special treatment, this will be my axolotls new tank, and I know it my not be the best (because of its width) but it sure is an upgrade from the tank they are in at the moment, thanks in advance for any help

 

[Chinadog]

A scrub out with some plain water should be fine, any marine nastys won't survive in fresh water so disease shouldn't be an issue. You can use vinegar or lemon juice to remove any salt stains there might be then give it another swill out with water and you're good to go.
If you're unlucky and there is a leak you just need the plain silicone sealer as you say. You can get small tubes with re-sealable lids from the petstore especially for aquarium repair if you don't want an industrial sized one from a DIY store.
Hope this helps.

 

[ThatNewGuy]

Yes this was reassuring got the tank cleaned, scrubbed and tulle with water, so far no leaks, and it has been like that for bout 4hours now, tonight I will place my filter on it to speed the cycle and I have already put in 15 g of old water from my current lotl tank, there's also some marimos in there to help, I'll make sure to keep this update on my progress and I'll upload pictures of it when it's done

 

[SnotOtter]

Just as an fyi. If you need to seal tanks for animal use make sure its RTV 100% silicone (food grade), it cures differently than normal industrial or house hold silicone which can have noxious chemicals that can be harmful to biological organisms. Just wanted to mention it because there is a difference and I've seen many animals suffer long term due to it.

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[ThatNewGuy]

Thank you SnotOtter I was already aware of this but I'm glad you brought it up, also I added sand today, rinsed 50lbs of it for bout an hour of rinsing and was left with 30-40 ish lbs, came over to me tank and did a 25% water change to help with the claudines, all my paramters checked out fine and I'm exited to have my axies swimming about. Btw the light are just to show of the tank for now, they will be replaced with fans