How to clean a dirty empty fish tank?

Question

i have a fish tank that i want to use but it has like mineral depoits that are white and in the lid, there are like many brown specks too. i ve tried soaking it like for 25-27 hours and not a budge of that gunk. i tried soaking it in vinegar with water for like 2 hours and nothing would budge. any more ideas? please dont tell me to use stuff like clr or something. ny fish tank is 29 gallons

Answer 1

Have you tried scrubbing it with one of those green scrubby things?  When I had hard water deposits I used a clean sponge with a scrubber on the back soaked in vinegar and it came off quite easily.  I'm surprised yours wouldn't.  I know soaking alone won't do it, but that should have softened it up a lot and scrubbing should have gotten it all off.  Did you use straight white vinegar?  I know cider vinegar doesn't work as well.  The only other thing I've ever heard suggested for hard water stains on fish tanks that I know works was lemon juice, but I think it acts on the same principles as vinegar.  

As far as the general cleaning of a new tank, I usually just scrub them down with aquarium salt or sea salt and then rinse it really well with hot water.  That will kill any diseases and not hurt any fish if some residue is left over.  You can also use a diluted solution of bleach, but you have to be careful with that.  I know people who have used too much and not been able to rinse it out well enough and created a "tank of death" that kills fish.

Answer 2

try sandpaper or steal wool. if the stuff isnt big and simply will not mix with the water at all it probably won't disturb your fish unless they try to eat it...which probaly will merely drive them nuts :P. also if u have good plants and stuff in there then it probably wont even show.

Answer 3

  Straight vinegar & a razor blade is a good start.  I don't understand why you don't want to hear about any other chemicals that will take it off, but I will respect your wishes.  You can safely go beyond vinegar and clr to clean tanks.

Answer 4

You can buy a tool from the hardware that is designed to scrape paint spills from glass windows. It holds a large razor blade. They are only cheap, that should get it off. Your right about the chemicals, any chemical may leave a residue and kill your fish.

Answer 5

Ah, now here's an interesting question!

It sounds like a build up of sodium or a similar mineral and some left over algae from when the tank was last used.

If I were you I'd go out to my local pet store and pick up an algae scrubber or magnet and try that, if that doesn't work then, this is totally only suitable if you other wise cannot budge the minerals, then use a tiny amount of liquid soap on either a coarse brush or wire sponge and scrub like mad. then after the substance has been moved rinse the tank untill you cannot see any more "soap" and then rinse some more....

Leave the tank under a running tap so that any soap can be washed out, then use a brand new cloth to dry everything from inside your tank to make sure absolutely NO soap is left, (soaps, detergents and other cleaners can be extremal dangerous to fish!)

Good luck with your new tank!

Answer 6

you can try a metal blade to scrub it off

Answer 7

I rubbed vinegar on the white stuff until it softened and started to come off. I couldn't get all of it off with just vinegar so I use a knife to scrape it off making sure I didn't scratch the glass.

Try not to use chemicals or soap because they can be hard to remove completely and can seriously harm your fish.

Good luck.

Answer 8

whats wrong with mineral deposits? they were once in water, the water just evaporated. just fill up your aquarium. whatever harmful minerals were there, im sure theyre gone. it should be fine to use it how it is.