How often do you clean your glass?

[jimmaki]

I'm just curious how often most of you clean the inside glass (or plastic) surfaces of your reef tanks.

All my water parameters are good. N=0 and P=.025. I get a light brown dusting on the glass and rear wall that becomes noticeable in about two days. To keep it "showroom" clean I would need to clean it every day. If this normal?

I don't keep a bunch of snails or salt water mollies. I have a yellow and hippo tang.

I am now running GFO and carbon. I also just starting using bio pellets XL adding a small amount at a time in a filter bag in the overflow.

A magnet algae cleaner (Mag Float) makes most of job easy except near the sand line. On a bow front cleaning the sand line is not easy with a scraper.

So I'm looking for hints on how to make daily or every other day cleaning unnecessary or ways to make cleaning the sand line on a bow front easier.

 

[laredo300c]

i had similar problems and traced it to my water source. i was cleaning every two days a brownish film on glass. switched to walmart distilled water and now doing 15g water change weekly instead of 8 g weekly, and now i clean glass every four days and it is just light cleaning, no more brownish film, also no more brownish film near the sand or on seams.

ps. have been looking at ro/di unit for amwhile, but the tap (municipal) water here in laredo, tx is bad bad bad. figure id go thru so many filters that it would just be frustrating.

 

[darkiss]

i use ro/di water and i still clean my glass weekly to make it look "show room"

Also I added in four more snails yesterday

 

[EllieSuz]

Get a length of small pvc long enough to reach the bottom. Using a hacksaw, cut a diagonal slit in one end. Insert razor blade and presto, a handy scraper that didn't cost much. By the way, the other end of this thing has a little toothbrush stuck in it. That comes in handy now and then.

 

[darkiss]

I would not put that on my tank, I like to do it soft and that thing looks like it will scratch a tank

 

[MondoBongo]

i usually hit the front of the tank every day or two with my magfloat.

i'm still on the tail end of battle cyano, so between that and the little feather dusters that are rooting everywhere it gets fairly dirty fairy fast.

 

[Ryand63]

front and 2 visible sides every other day usually with Magfloat and then back of the tank (painted though) with magfloat once a week or so.

 

[NYCBOB]

i clean mine every 2 days.

 

[Reef264]

Every Day With the Mag Float.All 4 sides.

-Ray

 

[Green Chromis]

I clean mine every 7 to 10 days. Only a light dusting of green algae after about a week or so

 

[EllieSuz]

I've never had any problem with scratches on my glass tank, but it isn't appropriate for acrylic, obviously.

 

[rrasco]

About every two days, when it gets noticeable and obstructs my view. Hoping my new ATS helps spread that out.

 

[modernREEF]

front and 2 visible sides every other day usually with Magfloat and then back of the tank (painted though) with magfloat once a week or so.

+1, exactly what I do

 

[ryeguyy84]

I clean 3 sides every other day and the back is pink so I leave that.

 

[tylersarah]

The razor blade scraper scares me. Before I continue, let me explain that I am a detailed steady handed person who practices the utmost caution.
In my 26 gal bow front I decided to carefully trim the coraline along the silicon seal. I did this by hand and was precise, I must have just barely nicked it because a day later I noticed bubbles forming in the silicon 3 inches from the bottom; I realized it was the beginning of a leak from my razor cleaning and needed a new tank. DON'T put razor blades in fish tanks! Get the Kent scraper like everyone else!

 

[KafudaFish]

Once or maybe twice a month on the front glass.

 

[r2odie]

I clean 3 sides every other day and the back is pink so I leave that.

Pink? That's different and I bet it's very pretty. Can you post a picture?

 

[straycat]

I have 5 grandkids who just love taking turns with the MagFloat, front and both sides, never the back, I leave that for the critters to fight over!

 

[nebelk]

Usually about twice a week - I try to do weekly water changes so I will clean then and 3-4 days later. repeat.

 

[jimmaki]

Thanks for the idea, but the bow front is concave (from the inside) and the razor is straight, so it would only contact the glass on each corner making two nice vertical scratches. (assuming the blade is horizontal sweeping up to down, not vertical sweeping side to side.

An ideal blade would have the same curvature as the bowfront glass. I made my own once using a plastic blade. But getting the curvature exactly the same is not that easy.