melev, DerekW, rjwilson37: Thanks for the replies. This issue still has me up in arms. I can see various points of the argument and still have the same dilemma. My main concerns are the health of the fish as a whole for the entire system. There seems to have been great write ups by knowledgeable people on both sides of the argument. Seems as though it really boils down to the personal choice of each aquarist. Thanks goodness the debate is not quite as heated as the pro-life argument

Yeah the treatment for the disease is proven, but to employ it before or after the diagnosis seems to be where the line is split. Kind of like Dr.'s prescribing anti-biotics for everything...
ARIANNA: Thanks and welcome to the think tank! I'm glad that the hypo treated your fish and I hope that everyone understands by reading this that the thread was stared by a newbie for newbies

Sometimes I think the learning curve is not in my favor... So much to learn!
Product update!
Ok so I think I can finally write something here that could be of true benefit to the aquaria world. Ok maybe not that exciting, but something that works. I was reading a thread yesterday about an unhappy acrylic owner who scratched their tank after only a few days with a cotton rag. Well I can tell you that after the first night of construction I tried to get some dust off my tank and tried to clean a small 2"X2" area and found small scratches as well. At that point I elected not to touch the viewing panes until I was better informed on how not to scratch it. So this is what I have figured out and it works really well for me. I wouldn't take this as gospel and I don't want someone getting upset if their tank gets scratched.
cleaning the outside...
I found some super soft cotton baby rags from Wal-Mart in the baby section. They are like 6"X6" and are incredibly soft. I use one WET to get the dust off the outside and let it dry. I then use another soft cloth to apply Kleenmaster Brillianize and follow the instructions on the bottle. I then use a third rag to polish the outside.
Cleaning the inside:
I still have not had to scrape due to the newness of the tank, however, my Algaefree Tigershark came in today.
After I cleaned the outside as mentioned above (I think that the fine coat of polishing compound left on the acrylic really helps here) I slowly used the Tigershark as per the instructions provided. I also have some cotton diapers that came in the care package from envision that I use inside and on the top of the tank while wet.
I received zero scratches and found that by taking my time, the clarity looking into the tank is incredible. I hope this helps people out there. I know that the scratches will happen, but I found taking my time really helps!