Cleaning & Sanitizing your Tank (Part 2 of 7)

Updated

Shop vac, scrub and sanitize your Flex Acre Tank during the deep clean, until it looks new.

After draining your Flex Acre, you can begin cleaning the Tank. Your Primary Pump, your Root Chambers, your Drip Lines and your Tank Lid all came off in Draining your Flex Acre (Part 1 of 7), so the Tank is open from end to end. We recommend a deep clean every 6 months, or sooner if there is significant build-up of plant matter. Follow the steps in Keeping your Flex Acre Clean before you begin.

Gather Tools:

  • Shop Vac
  • 5-Gallon Bucket
  • Hot Water
  • 3% Hydrogen Peroxide
  • Scrub Pads
  • Clean Towels

Step 1: Pool the Water at One End

  1. Pick up one end of the Tank.
  2. Rest that end on the Base Frame of your Flex Acre so the water pools at the low end.

Your pump stops pulling before the Tank is empty, so the water it could not reach is still lying in the bottom. Tilting the Tank drives all of it to one place, so you lift one pool instead of chasing a film along the whole length of the plastic.

Step 2: Shop Vac the Standing Water

  1. Bring the shop vac hose to the low end of the Tank.
  2. Vacuum out the pooled water.

Step 3: Rinse the Debris to the Low End

  1. Fill a bucket with hot water.
  2. Rinse the Tank starting from the highest end so the debris runs down to the low end.
  3. Shop vac the Tank again.

Rinsing from the high end keeps the debris traveling in one direction, and the second pass with the shop vac lifts the loose material out before any peroxide goes on the surface.

Step 4: Spray and Scrub the Tank

  1. Spray the entire Tank with 3% hydrogen peroxide.
  2. Scrub the Tank from top to bottom.
  3. Wipe the Tank with a clean towel.
  4. Rescrub any areas you missed.

The scrubbing is what does the work here. Algae and salt build up into a biofilm that sits on the plastic as a barrier, and 3% hydrogen peroxide sprayed over the top of that film never reaches the surface underneath. Breaking that film open by hand is the only way the plastic gets treated, so spraying alone leaves you a Tank that looks wet and is not clean.

CAUTION: Keep your spray inside the Tank and away from your Light Bars. The Light Bars are not waterproof.

Step 5: Rinse, Dry and Sanitize

  1. Rinse the Tank again with hot water.
  2. Shop vac the rinse water out.
  3. Dry the Tank with a new clean towel.
  4. Spray the Tank with 3% hydrogen peroxide a second time.

Reach for a fresh towel for the drying pass, as the towel you scrubbed with is carrying the soil you just took off the walls.

Step 6: Check the Finished Tank

  1. Look down the length of the Tank.
  2. Look for any green film on the walls, any white salt line, and any debris left in the corners.
  3. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 on anything you find.
  4. Photograph your empty Tank for your Data Log.

Your Tank should look new. That is the standard, and it is worth another pass, as this is the one point in the reset when every surface is reachable. Your Data Log asks for a photo of an empty Tank, and your Tank Lid goes back on later in the reset. Record it as described in Logging your Flex Acre Tasks & Readings.

NOTE: This article covers the Tank itself. Your Tank Lid is cleaned in Cleaning your Tank Lid & Clearing the Floor (Part 2 of 3) and goes back on clean in Part 6 of 7.

Your Tank is clean, dry and sanitized. Well done!

Previous: Draining your Flex Acre (Part 1 of 7)

Next: Deep Cleaning your Drip Lines & Disc Filter (Part 3 of 7)