Hard water stains- Please help

[sarah5775]

Well, I was looking at my 55 gallon aquarium and the upper two or three inches of the tank is so covered with hard water stains that I cannot see through the glass at all. It is just a whitish cloudy stain that you can't see through. It looks really terrible.

Is there anything that can be done about this? Will scrubbing remove it? I know you need a special cleaner to remove it from an empty tank, is there anything at all that can be done with a tank that is in use? Anything you can put in the water? I would be VERY grateful if anyone can help me out, I can't see my fish.

 

[Crepe]

Get a sponge and soak it in lemon juice or vinegar. Let any excess runn off then press it lightly against the glass and try to figure out a way to hold it there for about 30 minutes. Wipe dry afterwords. You may want to do a water change right after in case some acid gets in.

 

[mfdrookie516]

i get that on one of my tanks that loses about 2" of water over the course of a week... i have a mag float that i just take and scrub it off...

 

[kyoto tig]

i use vinegar, and it usually helps. unless they're real set in, then you might have to soak it for a bit and there's no guarantee it'll come out. i got all the hardwater stains off my 55 gallon no problem, but my 20 gallon has set in nastiness. keep your tank away from sunlight, that makes it evaporate quickly, and the stains set in real easy that way. my 20 gallon was by a window, my 55 was okay even though it had uv lights (though there was a basking area to catch most of the light). i'm going on a tangent.

anyways, yes, +1 on the vinegar. haven't tried lemon juice, though, maybe i will...

 

[The_Desacrator]

Dude I threw away my turtle tank because of hard water stains, like yesterday. OF course a new one was bought for like 13 bucks.

 

[dkpate]

I JUST did my bettas tanks tonight. What I did was get a razor blade, and left the water in the tank, and scraped it. It came off ALOT easier than I though it would.

 

[The_Desacrator]

I was told to do something like this bu was afraid of scratching my tank.

 

[mommytron]

if you keep the sharp edge of the razor flat on the glass and hold the razor at an angle, it shouldn't scratch.

 

[The_Desacrator]

Well the tank is in the garbage but for next time ill keep that in mind.

 

[i3k]

Razor blade FTW!!!

My acrylic tank gets covered with layers of this crap from the water...razor blade chips it right off the acrylic.

 

[sarah5775]

Did not have a lot of success with the little BIC razor, but tomorrow I'll get an exacto knife with a sharper edge and hopefully that will do the trick. I don't really want to risk the vinegar with the fish still in the tank, but I'll keep that in mind as a possibility too. Thanks for the advice

 

[TCool]

I have that issue too on some spots in my tank, but when I fill it with water it looks like it isn't even there. My biggest issue with hard water stains is on my hood. I hate that crap, and makes the hood constantly look dirty.

I've learned the best way to deal with hard water stains is just to prevent them. I soaked my old hood in tons of stuff and that crap never came off, so now I make sure to wipe off any water immediately. I know that doesn't help with stains on the inside, but maybe keep it full if you end up getting the stains out?

 

[HeathB]

If you catch the stuff early it comes off pretty easily, but after a while it does toughen up.

 

[taylorodw]

Yeah, the BIC razor is not what we're talking about. Think more like this:
Google Image Result for http://www.fullam.com/images/tools/526601.jpg

 

[HeathB]

Something else you can do to make sure the vinegar stays out of the water is to get another clean cloth and hold it underneath whatever you're using the vinegar on. This should prevent any runoff into the water. Then just make sure when you're finished to let it evaporate before refilling with water.

 

[dkpate]

And I used this kind of blade, it gets in the corners easier.

http://stockmeup.com/images/products/detail/44101_PHOTO.JPG