Advice needed for cleaning this tank up!

Hi all,

I acquired a tank yesterday and have given it a good clean just using hot water and a rough scrub. However, I'm really having trouble getting rid of all I can imagine is plant debris/stains! It was being used as a newt tank so these "stains" cover each glass wall midway between the tank base and the top. I'm assuming it's from a floating plant as there were a lot of leaves I've just been able to rinse off. It's off-white/yellowy in color and almost has a dry texture when not submerged in water (hard to explain!). Definitely not algae as obviously that'sgreen and wipes right off! I get really paranoid about using anything other than water inside my tanks otherwise I would have tried vinegar. Is there anything else I can try or is vinegar the way to go? I've not had to tackle anything so hard wearing before!

Thanks in advance :kiss:

Vinegar is fine. Just rinse well and let it dry.

You could try scraping the glass with a razor blade to remove any dried debris.

I had a shrimp breeder tank with hardwater stains that even vinegar couldnt touch, i used muraitic acid (dilluted hydrochloric acid) very tough nasty stuff but between that and. A razor blade no more hardwater stains, or any other stains.

This would be a last resort and reqiures you to read and follow the warning labels and instructions (seriously) followed by baking soda and water cleaning to neutralise.

Those stains are indeed hardwater stains (basically limescale!). Vinegar would work, but there are commercial tank cleaning products that work, and I have been using them sucessfully in my tanks for a while now.

The particular one I use you just spray it into the empty tank, leave for a short while, then wipe off. It may take several sprays to remove tough hardwater stains. I then rinse off and dry thoroughly before adding the newts. Non toxic if you rinse and dry thoroughly.

Alternatively you could try any other household limescale remover (such as an eco-firendly one, we have a brand called Ecover here in UK, look out for it in supermarkets). These biodegrade easily and so if you used them on the tank, rinsed and dried thoroughly there should be no reason it would leave a lingering chemical presence that would harm your newts. these products are not designed to linger in the environment, hence 'eco-friendly'.