Dried Algae on acrylic tank

[Try-na]

Ok so I just bought a used 14gal bio cube tank & it was a successful nano reef. Unfortunately they took it down & didn't clean it before they stored it. Now I have completely dried on pink algae (I'm a newbie so I don't know what kind) all over it. I need to clean it quick or I'll miss out on free salt water & live rock from a friend that has too much & needs to get rid of it quick. If I take the rock he's gonna throw in the salt. Probably a pretty good deal.

Anyway... I've been soaking it with vinegar/water mix & scraping it with my library card (acrylic so can't use anything sharp) but its slow going. I've seen online to use magic erasers but I don't have any but can get tomorrow. Any suggestions?

 

[Ozy]

Try use a new unused filter sponge to wipe it down with. You may get lucky! vie used it on my fresh water acrylic to wipe off some hard spotty green algae stuff that i initially had to scrape off with my finger nails. This pink stuff looks tough though! Good Luck!.

 

[Try-na]

Yeah I don't think that'll work on this. It's super dried on & thick too

 

[Ozy]

wow what a headache! hope you find a solution.

 

[FishCr8zy]

Yeah I don't think that'll work on this. It's super dried on & thick too

Nerite/turbo snails ( forgot which one ) will eat pink algae but I dunno if they will eat it dry. Fingernails is a pretty good solution. Can a scraper be used on an acrylic tank?

 

[Try-na]

Your suggestions are good for a running tank with softer algae but....

Ok maybe I should explain. This tank is not filled with water. I need to clean it before I fill with live rock & start my cycle. It was stored empty for a long time & the algae has turned to concrete. Fingernails won't do it & I'm not adding water until the algae is gone. It's acrylic so anything sharp will scratch it & anything corrosive will harm it.

Any suggestions that have worked in this situation would be greatly appreciated please

 

[GoldfishJoey]

Your best bet is to fill it up with water and dump vinegar in it and let it soak for a couple days. After the second or third day you can remove the coralline algae with your finger. But the secret is letting it soak. In the meantime you can go to the local fish store but some premise salt water, fill a rubber made container... Slap in a heater, and an air stone and let the rock sit there in the meantime. That's your best option if you really would like to clean the tank good. But make sure you rinse the heck out of the tank after.

 

[GoldfishJoey]

Premixed saltwater****

 

[Try-na]

Well finally got the tank cleaned & now running great. A friend was shutting down his 10 gallon nano so I got all his sand, live rock, corals, water, & critters. Fastest cycle ever! Here's the before & after pics. So stoked. It's my first saltwater ever!

Before



After



Critters