What is the proper way to clean a fish tank?

Question

My wife and I have a 50galon fish tank that we bought from a friend. The problem is, that the tank has a couple of white spots on the glass that we cant remove. The tank was left in our friends garage for several years before we bought it. They didn't clean it when they put in in there. They just dumped the water and left it at that. Thanks for all serious answers.

Answer 1

How To Clean Hard Water Stains from Glass
To remove the stain, use a fine steel wool along with water.
To clean the window just use glass cleaner.
My brother has the same problem, hope this helps!

Answer 2

I got a few tanks from someone that had them in a room that the ceiling leaked then moved them to the basement then on the front porch for awhile. They not only had hard water stains all over they had all kinds of bugs, it was nasty. The first thing I did was just wipe all that I could with a damp cloth so I can get all the loose stuff off, then because it was sitting for so long I wanted to make sure to kill any diseases they may be in there so I used a bleach solution, 1 part bleach to 10 parts water. After that I rinsed, rinsed and rinsed with a hose until I couldn't smell any bleach anymore. After that I let it dry in the sun and on any hard water stains I tried vinegar, for the little tougher spots I mixed in some baking soda. For the really tough spots I used a razor, you can use that for the whole thing but it will probably take you awhile. Just to make sure there isn't any bleach or vinegar left fill the tank up and use a dechlorinater and let it sit for a while, I use Prime. I know a lot of people have a problem using bleach but its really just strong chlorine which is why you would use the dechlorinater to remove any traces of it. Then once you have it the way you want it set it up for the fishes and have fun with it.

Answer 3

Yep, sounds like lime deposits.

Several cleaners will work and the CLR may be a good idea, but I'd be really careful with any product. Some products even with 100 rinses still can leave a residual and cause issues when you begin adding fish.

The easiest, yet not the most fun remedy is using elbow grease. You can use a new green scrubber pad (the basic dish washing pads) and just work at it. Although, you can even use a single edged razor blade, just be careful! You can remove the majority of the deposits with the scrubber or blade. But, once you add water (assuming the deposits are on the inside of the tank) the lime will eventually go away on its own, because of said water.

We experience with lime deposits on a weekly basis and I've found the scrubber and blade to work the best for -us- with the least of intrusion on our livestock.

Have fun scrubbing! :D

Answer 4

Is it water spots? I'm assuming you have it empty right now :) Can try vinegar, baking soda, or even ammonia. As a last resort could try bleach(I've done this before with no ill results for all you that say no bleach), just be sure to rinse and rinse and rinse again, until you can't smell it anymore. Be sure to use a dechlorinator too when you fill it up, that'll help with the bleach as well. Don't use soaps or any other cleaning products. If all fails, just put that side facing the wall. :)

Answer 5

hii.
if spot comes to ur tank first remove all the water and rub the inside glasse with salt. this will remove the germs from the tank.
hence white will no remain longer.

Answer 6

Try using something like CLR, it's probaly lime buildup, i had that before on one of my tanks. Just make sure you rinse extremely well and after it's dry, rinse it again :)

Answer 7

http://www.aquariacentral.com

This site is awesome for any questions you might have about your aquarium.