Best Sponge to Clean Inside Glass

[Fish Fan]

I'm not so sure those are deposits, that may have etched the glass. I do hope I'm wrong :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

First try is saturated citric acid. Very concentrated, but not nearly as low pH as muriatic acid, even diluted.

I spread it on a small area with a paper towel and I’ll leave it there a while. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I made a saturated citric acid solution yesterday, applied it to a few square inches with a paper towel and left it on overnight. It stayed wet for hours, but by morning it was dried. Washing it off: no apparent change.

I don't have any muriatic acid at the moment, but when I get some I'll try a solution diluted enough to prevent fumes in my living room, but pH well below the citric acid.

That said, without any visible change from the citric, my hopes aren't high. I don't really understand what would have etched the glass in that sort of pattern, but that may be what happened. It might be where coralline or diatoms or green algae stayed on longer.

The good news is the cloudiness is far harder to see when the glass is wet, and so may not be so visible when the tank is full, and also when lit from the inside.

 

[Miami Reef]

I was going to suggest bleach, based on a post of yours that I read, but since this is targeted around the seams, I will not suggest it.

 

[Miami Reef]

This was the thread

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/t...he-glass-how-to-remove.1004173/#post-11684532

This was the quote from the thread:

 

[Miami Reef]

I’m going to ask on another forum about what to do. They are pretty hands on with glass and aquariums. I’ll report back on what answers I get.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I see various sorts of glass polishing drill bits on Amazon. Might be worth a try?

https://a.co/d/fCJL9Bf
https://a.co/d/7evWwhI

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

OK, I called out the big guns on calcium carbonate removal.

Bought muriatic acid at Ace. Diluted it 1:1 with water to reduce fumes, but it is still very strong (pH around -0.5, which is hundreds of times stronger than the saturated citric acid). Still fumed some, but not a huge problem for a test. A small bit of a coral skeleton dropped into it bubbled like crazy.

Wiped it carefully on a 6" spot, and after 5 minutes, followed by rinsing and wiping, no change to the cloudiness at all.

Conclusions: it definitely is not calcium carbonate.

Might be silica from diatoms, might be organics somehow (unlikely, IMO), or it might be etched glass.

My next experiment will be a buffing pad and cerium oxide glass polish on a random orbit sander.

If that fails, I'm likely going to call it done. lol

 

[Fish Fan]

OK, I called out the big guns on calcium carbonate removal.

Bought muriatic acid at Ace. Diluted it 1:1 with water to reduce fumes, but it is still very strong (pH around -0.5, which is hundreds of times stronger than the saturated citric acid). Still fumed some, but not a huge problem for a test. A small bit of a coral skeleton dropped into it bubbled like crazy.

Wiped it carefully on a 6" spot, and after 5 minutes, followed by rinsing and wiping, no change to the cloudiness at all.

Conclusions: it definitely is not calcium carbonate.

Might be silica from diatoms, might be organics somehow (unlikely, IMO), or it might be etched glass.

My next experiment will be a buffing pad and cerium oxide glass polish on a random orbit sander.

If that fails, I'm likely going to call it done. lol

I had feared this, I lived through very similar some years ago with a 125 gallon, I threw everything at it, including muriatic acid, and all I succeeded in doing was burning out some grass in the lawn lol!

I don't know why the glass gets this way, to say it's "etched" may not be fully accurate, but but I believe the problem is "in" the glass. My only other idea would be to polish the glass.

The good news is that as you noted it looks a lot better filled :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I had feared this, I lived through very similar some years ago with a 125 gallon, I threw everything at it, including muriatic acid, and all I succeeded in doing was burning out some grass in the lawn lol!

I don't know why the glass gets this way, to say it's "etched" may not be fully accurate, but but I believe the problem is "in" the glass. My only other idea would be to polish the glass.

The good news is that as you noted it looks a lot better filled :)

I agree that I'm not sure it is etched or a deposit on top of the glass. But I hope my new job as a glass polisher works out. lol

 

[OvaskaReefer]

Was there ever a solution to this? Just bought a used tank that had the same issue!