What can you use to clean acrylic?

stlouisguy

Registered Member
Was wondering as I get ready to clean up the new tank if I can use the squeedgy thing like at the gas station, the side you use to get bugs off your glass or would that scratch the acrylic. I have lots of dried stuff and coraline to get off the tank sides. I was thinking of using pure vinegar and just washing it off with that then sucking it out with a shop vac but would like to find something I could use that would have a bit of safe scrape power
 
cleanin acrylic

cleanin acrylic

you can use a little bleach with warm water and a very soft cloth.for the sides you use a plastic putty knife or a credit card.
 
fade32 has a couple of these plastic blade things.
i've seen em at MS. i keep forgetting to buy one.
apparently acrylic safe.
i watched as he scraped coraline right off the side.
 
Clark,

I would use the vinegar and water... let it soak for a good long time. The credit card is a good idea for a scraper, or the cheap plastic scrapers from HD or Lowes.

After each pass or scraping I would wipe the end of the scraper in case something had attached itself. That way there is less chance of damaging the tank.

Very soft cotton cloth for wiping...

Howard
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8136284#post8136284 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dert42
fade32 has a couple of these plastic blade things.
i've seen em at MS. i keep forgetting to buy one.
apparently acrylic safe.
i watched as he scraped coraline right off the side.

They do make scrapers that are "acrylic safe." You still must be careful...
 
yeah, i knnow to be slow and safe with the acrylic, but the bleach thing......

No way I will put bleach anywhere near my tanks.
 
I'd fill it up full, use muriatic(pool) acid at about a 10:1 ratio. That would be about 40 gallons at that strength so maybe a little less, like just 10 gallons. Always add acid to water or you'll look like you caught the measles from all the bubbling and popping. Then just use the scrapers with the arms and plastic blade. You won't hardly work at all. Last time I bought the acid it was about 5 bucks at Lindbergh/Gravois on the NW corner. I use it to clean all my pumps/powerheads/etc. But on them I use 3or4:1 which is overkill but it only takes 5-10 min to get the worst stuff off. You could do vinegar but it will take a lot more elbow grease and time. It would even cost much more considering you would need about 100+ gallons of vinegar to get a tank full at a strong enough H+ concentration.

But afterward I'd fill and drain a couple times and maybe even on the last fill/rinse throw in a couple large boxes of arm&hammer and let soak. If worried about the chemistry of that and want a second chemistry opinion on residues etc. go over the the chem forum and ask Dr. Randy.
 
BTW after a rinse bleach would be gone 100% in just a couple days although bleach won't clean anything really. It would be sanitized but it won't really remove any coralline and algae to speak of.
 
Okay, so to clean it I should

1. Level out the tank, hook up plumbing, check for leaks etc

2. Fill with freshwater and add the acid

3. let it soak ?? for a bit then clean it all off

4. empty and fill and rinse a few times to get it all out

That sound right Roy?
 
i used vinigar to clean my tank before i had it set up.
i just rinsed the heck out of it when done.
 
That's it. I'd def use regular tap water for the cleanup or you'll wear out a set of ro/di filters/resin on a tank that big just to clean it. Maybe the last rinse and final check use good water. I'd also do the baking soda on the last rinse too. It's probably unnecessary but it would be a good piece of mind that it would neutralize any tiny bit of acid that remained. Start with a low amount of acid and start to clean, if you work too hard, bump up the concentration. Wear some good chemical gloves too. I've reached into my 3:1 bucket and grabbed something that drops and then did a quick rinse but really that's dumb. I'm not too sensitive to it but some people are so don't risk it. To save money you could try to mix it and work an area at a time with a stronger concentration vs. the whole tank by just having a rag that you wet down and rub on it kind of like hand mopping a floor and then have the hose in there to squirt it down. Maybe even rig a hose the bulkhead somehow so that it's on a constant drain as you clean. Although that way doesn't allow for a good soaking which is where the cleaning gets easy. It should almost wipe off with a rag doing the whole tank/soaking method and you may not have hardly any real scraping to do. The whole tank soaking method would also help with any that has gotten into crevices, existing scratches etc.
 
I think Roy definately has it right Clark. I didn't think about the acid, I might dilute it a bit more than that though. Should make clean up a breeze. Just like the shampoo bottle says, "Rinse and repeat."
 
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