[Toad]

What can we use to clean our acrylic tanks. I just cleaned the outside of my tank with a paper towel and appear to have left scratches in it. Are we supposed to use special rags?

 

[Jakub]

Theres actually white sponges to clean acrylic at your local pet store. The blue ones are for glass. They're usually labeled on the packaging also. Definatley do not mix these two up unless you like to look at your fish through scratched acrylic.

As for cleaning the outside, a soft paper towel and windex works fine.

 

[Chief]

Ok, so my mom has a small tank with some guppies. It is an acrylic, and I had an old "white" cleaning brush laying around. She had some algae, and instead of leaving it and letting the pleco take care of it, she had to clean it. She used the white bruch, but it seems it HORRIBLE scratched the acrylic. When looking in, it looks you are looking through fog. I thought this was a safe brush, but don't know.

Is there any way to bring this back? Or is it toast?

 

[IMIGHT]

Sounds like minor scratches and can be polished/buffed out with minimal effort, however inside scratches are a bit more troublesome.You have to remove all the fish, drain and polish then Rinse very well a number of times. Scratches can be avoided very easily with the proper cleaning materials. Here's a few links that will help you remove the scratches and maintain the acrylic. hope this helps good luck.

Aquarium care products specifically for cleaning acrylic fish tanks
Aquarium Cleaning & Maintenance: How to Clean Your Acrylic Aquarium Without Scratching

 

[Chief]

Well, I hate to say it, but the tank and the whole set-up costs about the same as the cleaner. Maybe I can just replace the tank w/o the hood and everything in it. She may have used scotchbrite. It's pretty bad. With a paper towel, and hard pressure, it still looks like your looking through an opaque tuperware container. If the fish are on the other side of the tank, all you see is a quarter-sized blur, can't even make out a shape.

Once I go to the new tank, and I inevitable pick up the rocks, I am basically destroying all the beneficial bacteria right?

 

[IMIGHT]

Most of your BB will be in your filter media, some are in the rocks and other decor but the filter houses most of it. Just move it to the new tank, no worries.

 

[ladyonyx]

+1. You shouldn't have an issue with the BB since the majority of them are in your filter. What a pain though

 

[Chief]

yeah. BASICALLY, I had guppies that had babies. I had about 30, maybe 12 turned out to be males, and my mom liked the look so asked if I could set her up a tank. Well, I did, just something she can have in a nice neat package in the living room. Then I see her scraping algae out with the brush. I have only had glass, so I thought it might have been a glass brush she found. It was white, but now I found out that she used a scotchbrite pad on it. She is clueless, and I can see a short time down the road, her giving me the tank and fish. PITA! She is retired, and I guess just decides to go and do things when she gets bored.

Thanks guys, glad to know I dont have to try and make her understand the cycling process again. And my guppies have been REAL hardy, so a little cycling with the fish in should be ok.