substrate vs. acrylic question

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unda_da_sea

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
37
I will be starting an upgrade from my Eclipse system 12 gallon acrylic tank with cc substrate to a 30 gallon seaclear acrylic tank. I clean the tank weekly using a small piece of microfiber towel to scrub the inside walls. I clean all four walls because this an Eclipse system and the new tank will be the same. I bought carribsea fine sand substrate for the new tank but realized that when i try to clean at the substrate level with fine sand........... scratch city. Any suggestions? I could build a 2" cc border around the walls and sand in the middle? Just use cc? Not clean so close to the bottom (not a preferable option). I love acrylic but WILL not scratch it. Any suggestion will be apreciated.
 
I would suggest to be more gentle. Maybe get a rubber spatula, that is somewhat flexible. All my tanks are glass, I bet someone will be able to let you know what they use.
 
While I don't have an acrylic tank either, I don't get within an inch of the sand with my cleaner magnet. (Don't want to get sand stuck in the cleaner magnet and scratch my glass.) Then every couple weeks I get that area with one of those scraper blades on a stick. I know they make those with "acrylic friendly" blades, but have heard mixed results on their effectiveness.
 
As stated earlier you`ll need to be more careful at the substrate level. I would not use anything that rubs the acrylic surface. Some type of acrylic safe scrapper will be better.
 
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