cleaning a tank

xrayjeeper83

Just got my old 55 from my old house and im in the process of cleaning it up. Ive scrub the whole thing down with a sponge, the kind with the hard scrubby side too. Ive got it fairly clean but one side has a white streak all the way down from top to bottom, its on the outside so it wont dissappear when i fill it up. And the other side has black specks that I cant seem to get off. They are that noticable till you get up close to the tank unlike the white streak.

Anyone got any suggestions to clean it up.

Mikaila31

the white stuff is hardwater, use vinegar to get rid of it . I personally wouldn'tuse a scrubby on a tank unless really needed.

xrayjeeper83

After looking at it more, I put the hardwater on the backside. The black dots on the otherside are ever more less noticable then i thought. That and plus i tend to use natural light to light my apartment so its not that bright in my place.

Now just to get some sand, plants, driftwood, rocks; cycle and stock.

Byron

Are the black specks inside or outside the tank? If outside, I would carefull scrape them off, perhaps with a razor blade; I say carefully because it can scratch the glass. If inside the tank, one would assume algae ahrdened (I've seen this myself on rear walls near the bottom of tanks I have drained and dried). That also should scrape off. I concur with Mikaila, that I would not use any item inside a tank that might be problematic; only aquarium scrapers, a wet cloth, and vinegar if warranted.

xrayjeeper83

everything is on the outside of the tank. I thought about the razor but like you said im afraid of scratching the glass

iamntbatman

I use a razorblade to clean my tank glass on a regular basis. So long as you don't really try to gouge it with the corner of the blade, you can't really scratch it. I'm not always extremely careful but I've never scratched the glass so far as I can tell.