How to safely disinfect and reuse old aquarium soil for planted tanks?

Java Moss, Java Fern, Anubias and Amazon Swords are among the easiest live plants to care for and cultivate in an aquarium. You can use aquarium soil or aquarium sand depending on the species of plant(s) chosen. When medicating fish, it is best to remove them to a hospital or quarantine tank. This will spare live plants as well as beneficial bacterial populations, especially if an antibiotic is used. Medicated food is also an option.

When used as instructed, plant nutrients and fertilizers designed specifically for aquarium plants will not harm aquarium fish. Allow new aquarium plants to settle and establish themselves before adding any fertilizers. Use aquarium plant substrates such as CaribSea Eco-Complete Plant Substrate http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=9087 to get your plants established faster. Seachem Flourish Advance Natural Phytohormone Supplement http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=33890 will help stimulate root growth vital for overall plants health. Even though you have plants with low to moderate light requirements, be sure to use aquarium light specifically designed for planted aquarium use (sometimes called plant lights) and have the lights on between 10 and 12 hours a day. You may need to adjust the photoperiod (the amount of time the light is on) depending on how your plants are doing and to prevent unwanted nuisance algae growth.

You can, however it isn't as simple as collecting a few bucketsful and dumping them in your tank. You will need to properly clean the sand to remove impurities and parasites. This involves soaking the sand, water changes, more soaking amd more water changes. It may take several weeks. There are videos you can watch on the bigger video hosting sites. It is much easier, and safer for your fish, to buy sand that has been prepared already.

Firstly remove all small branches and leaves. The safest method is putting the wood in the oven if it fits. You need to put it in at 200F and cook for 2 to 3 hours, do not leave unattended. You can soak bigger pieces for 24 hours in a cup of bleach to 1 gallon water solution in the bath. Then you must rinse thoroughly and repeat the soaking at least 5 times in clean water to remove the bleach. Then air dry the wood. Obviously the bleach has to be properly removed. Personally I would use the oven method and if not just buy ready made wood from the pet shop.

Hello, and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. This is a great question, and it's good that you're thinking about how to keep your animals safe. The difficulty comes from the fact that dirt and gravel are, by nature, nearly impossible to truly disinfect. We can talk about disinfecting hard (non-porous) surfaces with bleach, which is really the only disinfectant that is effective against parvovirus....but nothing will truly disinfect dirt and gravel, because you can't saturate and soak all sides of every piece of dirt & rock with the bleach solution, and parvovirus can remain in the environment for months to even years. So, with a big grain of salt to consider that it still won't be truly disinfected, but to do your diligence to try to sanitize the area as best as possible, I recommend thoroughly spraying the area with copious amounts of water first (the goal here is to dilute and wash away any remaining microscopic fecal matter). Let it dry, then I'd spray the top layer of dirt & gravel with a dilute bleach solution of 3/4 cups bleach in 1 gallon water. Also spray the barrier/walls. Allow that to dry. If possible, it may be worth buying enough gravel to add another layer on top of what's there, that you know is clean. That way, you know the surface that your pet is primarily in contact with should be safe and free of contamination. I hope this helps!

Thanks for reaching out about The Girls. Driftwood needs to be soaked for prolonged periods of time in fresh water, to allow any possible accumulated toxins (heavy metals, pesticides, other organics) to leach out. Good luck.

The safest treatment would be a temporary increase in water temperature and some plain aquarium salt (NOT table salt). Ich is very sensitive to temperature. Gradually increase water temperature, by no more than 1 degree F per hour, up to 86 F. Hold it at that temperature for at least 2weeks. This will speed up the life cycle and prevent reproduction. You can perform partial water changes (30%) and vacuum the substrate during treatment. Use only aged or conditioned water that is temperature matched to prevent stress or shock. An airstone should be used to increase oxygenation since warm water does not hold as much oxygen as cooler water. This could affect some the fish. Aquarium salt can be dissolved into the tank at 1-2 teaspoons per gallon of water. Dissolve it in a cup of tank water then pour it gently into the tank. When performing water changes, treat only the amount of water being replaced with salt, not the entire tank volume. After 2 weeks, gradually decrease water temperature back down to species appropriate levels.