Hard water deposits....

[t-bone]

My tank has these hard water deposits that have been there since I got the tank. It was free so I can't complain. When I got the tank I used everything I could find to try and get them off. CLR and vinegar did not work. They got pretty clean but you could still see them. No telling how long the people before me ran the tank with a low water level. I can see the stains when the water is on them also. It is kinda bugging me. Is it possible that the glass got etched by the minerals? Just curious if the tank can be cleaned successfully if I break it down. I did not try Muriatic acid though. That is the only other thing I could try. If I break it down I will be tempted to by a new tank. What do you think?

 

[sheilak]

hard water stains

if you have regular white vinegar you can use this if the tank is emptied

 

[54seaweed]

Triple XXX steel wool this is ultra fine steel wool and will not scratch the glass , use a little amount of veg shortening on the wool will help the wool polish the glass . use in a circular motion it should remove all the sediment / build up on glass easily , once your finished use vinegar to clean any shortening off the glass, when I say steel wool I'm not talking about Brillo!
this type of steel wool is usually found in the paint dept of any home improvement store.

 

[t-bone]

Sweet!! I have some ultra fine steel wool in the shop. I never thought of that. You can make stuff shine with it. I would assume you would use only enough pressure to remove the deposits and not dig into the glass surface. I'll give it a try. I have to break down the tank to move it to my living room in a few weeks so I'll do it then.

 

[flieslikeabeagl]

I recently acquired a 55 gal tank with similar hard water despisers. I wanted to avoid the fallback of abrasives or a razor if at all possible. In the end, I soaked the stains in white vinegar for half an hour or so, then rubbed with a paste of water and sea salt. I rinsed again with vinegar. Then used shed loads of water to rinse everything. I used a python hose and kept syphoning off the water until it tested as tap water to eliminate every trace of the salt. In the end the glass is perfectly clear.