HELP! surfactant in tank

Question
I bought CLEAR ammonia to cycle my new 10 gallon tank using the fishless method.  Thought I had SOAPLESS clear ammonia.  Now I see that surfactant IS SOAP!  There is about 30 to 40 drops in the tank over 3 days.  (I've been having trouble getting the initial ammonia load high enough.)  What do I do about the surfactant in my tank?  Must I clean everything out and start over?  I'm VERY frustrated.  Thank you for your help!

Answer
Hi Sherri,
Wow, you do have a problem on your hands! Fortunately, I think you should be able to get rid of the Surfactant. It will require a complete tear-down of the tank though but luckily this won't be too much work since it's small. If this were my aquarium, I'd drain the tank completely, remove the gravel, and any decor/plants, throw away any filter media, any airstones, anything that could have absorbed the chemical.
What you could keep are-
*The filter box itself
*Heater
*Thermometer (beware the rubber part though)

I'd be really scared of keeping the gravel, ornaments or plants, I worry it'd absorb the surfactant and it may leech it out later when in the water. If you can, try to replace all of these.

Now that your tank is drained and empty of gravel and all, I'd take it outside (if you can) and use the garden hose and a paper towel to flush and rinse the whole aquarium as many times as you can manage. Use the paper towel to scrub all the corners and especially the silicone and don't forget under the top-trim and at the bottom corners. Rinse it very well and feel for any residue on the glass.

Completely take your filter apart and rinse it extremely well. Make sure to throw out all the filter material.

Now set your tank back up. Have new gravel and ornaments and brand new filter media. Use plenty of dechlorinator and run plenty of carbon in your filter to further help.

A much safer alternative to cycling is to use 1-2 small hardy cycling fish such as Black Skirt tetras. These will also be your test fish to make sure the soap is gone. Cycling with fish doesn't have to be stressful for them. As long as you insure to not overfeed, test the water everyday, and make those vital 30-50% water changes whenever the ammonia rises above safe bounds. If you don't want the black skirts when the cycling is done, some petstores will gladely take them back.
Be sure to add your new fish as soon as possible to avoid any bacterial die-off.

Honestly, the tank cleaning is the best you can do as far as trying to remove the chemicals. But what I'd really do to avoid any risks, is to buy another inexpensive 10gal and a new filter to avoid all this worry or trouble. The soap could have absorbed into the silicone and you may not have any luck in getting it out completely. So buying a new tank and filter is the next OR perhaps even the first best option.

Fortunately, be glad this is a small aquarium that is easy to replace and handle.

I'm sorry you are going through so much trouble. Thankfully no fish have been harmed though!
Best of luck!
Karen~