Scraping Coralline - Dry or Wet?

[Apparition]

Here's an interesting question that I'm hoping people can help me with. I just broke down my acrylic tank for a move and it is covered in coralline. My question, do I pose a greater risk of scratching if I scrape using a Kent's acrylic scraper now than when it is filled? I never scratched it with the scraper before, but that was only when it was filled with water. What do you all think? Should I wait a couple days for the algae to die and then fill it up to scrape it off or just go at it dry?

 

[tomasga]

I am not positive on acrylic, but I would venture to say it is better when wet as it seems that there would be less friction and chance of a scratch.

 

[Apparition]

Thanks, was thinking the same thing. If it were glass I wouldn't worry about it, but I don't relish putting in a bunch of scratches. I guess I'll just fill it up next weekend and scrape it all off.

 

[Don-Coraleone]

the fastest way would be fill the tank with fresh water dump in a bottle of vinegar and let it sit for a couple of hours and it should come off very easy..

 

[tomasga]

makavelli911 -
I should have thought of that. Thanks for the reminder

 

[Apparition]

makavelli911 - Smart thinking! That's what I'll do then. Should clean it right off and be easy to pump out. Thanks!

 

[Hop]

I'm not a big fan of putting vinegar in acrylic although many do it. There is some risk of causing the acrylic to haze. I found that just running a trickle of water over the dry coraline as you scrape it makes for pretty quick work. I did a 370 gallon tank with heavy dry coraline in about an hour.