I bought a 30 gallon tank from a thrift store and it was clearly a salt water in it's glory days. The tank was quite cloudy so I tried vinegar over night. Nothing much happened so I uded like... Industrial strength lime away. Not like the stuff you can buy in a store. My mother got this stuff from work. I was wondering if you think wiping the glass with a hot wash cloth 6 or 7 times would be enough to clean any left over lime away off the glass.

Obviously, I'm rather excited to put fish in this big huge empty tank (I even got a new new filter!) but I certainly don't want to hurt or even poisen to death any fish friends.

What do you think?

Wiping the glass is good enough or should I do water changes (the tank is already filled with the filter going), I filled the tank Sunday I believe and treated with chlorine remover. I did a ph test and it came back normal. Are there any other tests I can do to see if my water is safe?

Thanks so much.

IMO, do a few rinses with hot water and ur good to go

Yup I agree. Might want to take it outside and wash it out a few times with the hose and then the hot water. Don't want traces of the chemicals in there to make the fish sick. Wiping with a wet wash cloth would just be hit and miss.

That won't work out as it's already filled AND my dad is so anal about saving/wasting water that I'm not allowed to waste so much water. He thinks all my fish are a waste of money because 'they are FISH for christ's sake!' However, I scrubbed the sides of the tank again with a wash cloth and did a 50% water change. I also took a teeny tiny guppie from the turtle tank and acclimated him into the water. I've been watching him like a hawk to see if he starts failing (then I know my water is bad). He seems to be in perfect health so I'm just going to keep watching him. If he continues to be fine throughout the day, do you think it would be safe to acclimate goldfish in?

I am no expert but you might want to wait untill you cycle you tank before adding the goldies. That takes a few weeks. When the tank is cycling the fish are exposed to high amonia and nitrate spikes which can make your fish sick. Best to use a small inexpensive fish during the cycling period untill you know for sure that the tank is cycled. Or better yet do a fishless cycling of the tank. Koko has a link on here about cycling a tank. I will see if I can find it and paste it here so you can read it. and here it is

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/cycle.html

I know it was a used tank, but since you just set it up again your tank will start cycling. You probably need to buy a water test kit so you can test it to know when it is done cycling so you will know when it is safe to add the fish.

I have a test kit already and also have a well established tank (with guppies and turtle), I asked and everyone seemed to think that adding a bag of gravel into the filter would help speed up the process. Do you think that would be okay?

My real question though was, since I cleaned the tank with Lime Away I want to make sure it's really all cleaned out so I put a guppie in and is doing fine, so would a goldfish do fine in the tank?

Please, I need people's opinions on this, and making new threads is pointless!!

Okay. My calico oranda goes in the tank tonight, no one's given me any reason why I shouldn't (as long as the tank is clean). I'll post pictures in the correct forum after he's in!

I know how frustraiting waiting for replys can be.
If the guppy is fine, then I'd assume the goldfish will do well.
Just be on the look out.
I'm sorry I'm not to expeiranced in this all.

I wouldnt have used the LimeAway but since you already have, I would think the goldfish would be fine as long as you rinsed, rinsed, RINSED!

And adding old gravel will definitely help the cycle along.