A fish tank is a thing of beauty. It livens up and makes any room even more interesting than it already is. But of course, the fish tank needs to clean and clear for that to happen. The reality is that hard water accumulates in the fish tank and leaves it quite dirty and with plenty of stains. So what do you do about it if you are a fish tank owner? You try to find the quickest and easiest solution, of course. Read on to know what materials you need and what you need to do with them.
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Steps to Remove Hard Water Stains from Fish Tank
Removing hard water stains from your fish tank might seem like such a complicated process. There seems to be a lot of work involved that it can look like such an overwhelming task that makes you shrink from it before you even begin.
The truth though is that it is a much simpler process than that. Below are the steps that you need to follow in order to effectively remove hard water stains from your fish tank:
Step 1: Using your aquarium razor scraper, remove large areas of hard water stains. Contrary to what you might have expected, there is actually no need for you to remove any of your fish while you are scraping your fish tank. You could proceed right away to removing the hard water stains.
Step 2: Now comes the part where you need to actually remove the fish and all of the decorative items from your fish tank. Then you need to remove the water as well.
Step 3: The decorative items could also have hard water deposits. If they do, then you will have to place them inside a bucket that is filled with one part water to two parts vinegar. Just let them soak while you go on with cleaning your fish tank.
Step 4: Directly mix one part water and two parts vinegar into the fish tank. Take note that the amount of water and vinegar that you will need to use depends on the size of your fish tank. If your fish tank is small, then you could apply the solution directly to the hard water stains. Let it sit for about 10 minutes.
Step 5: Use a hand towel to scrub the sides as well as the bottom of your fish tank. For the edges and corners of the fish tank, use an old toothbrush.
Step 6: Using clean water, rinse the fish tank and the decorative items thoroughly. Dry the tank and the decorations before you re-assemble the fish tank.
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Common Questions About hard Water Stains
How Can We Remove Hardness of Water?
Hard water has a high content of dissolved minerals, mostly calcium and magnesium. To remove this hardness on a small scale, ammonia, borax, or washing soda would have to be added to the water. But if you are looking to remove the hardness on a much larger scale, a different process is required. The right amount of lime needs to be added. This will precipitate the calcium as carbonate while the magnesium will be precipitated as hydroxide. And in order to remove any remaining calcium salts, sodium carbonate will need to be added. Home water softeners are used in places where the water is hard. The softeners use the properties of both artificial and natural zeolite minerals.
How to Clean Aquarium Glass White Residue
If you own a fish tank, then you have probably noticed the presence of white residue that has formed on the top of the tank. The most likely explanation for this substance is the evaporation of hard water. That white residue that will be left behind is very likely to be lime build-up on the glass of the fish tank. To remove the white residue from the aquarium’s glass, you can use fish safe cleaning sprays. These are available from the nearest pet stores. A cheaper and greener alternative that you can use is plain white vinegar. Vinegar is capable of dissolving the lime deposits. Just remember though that you will need to transfer your fish from the aquarium to a holding tank while you do the cleaning.
How to Remove Limescale From a Fish Tank
Lime scale is inevitably going to build up inside your fish tank. So no matter how great your set-up looks, it can eventually look bad.
Follow these directions to remove the limescale from your fish tank effectively:
- Prepare a temporary holding tank for your fish. Take your fish out of the fish tank and place them in the temporary holding tank.
- Remove the water from the fish tank.
- Get a clean towel and lay it down flat on a clean surface.
- Get a clean spray bottle that has never been used before and put a small amount of white vinegar in it.
- The fish tank should be placed on its side to make spraying it easier. Spray the limescale build-up on your fish tank with the vinegar. Let it sit for a few minutes after.
- Use a clean, soft cloth to wipe away the limescale.
- If there are any linescales left, use a pot scraper to scrape it away.
- Rinse the fish tank carefully and thoroughly.
Conclusion
Just thinking about removing hard water stains from your fish tank can cause headaches for you. The initial impression is that it is a lot of work. But the reality is that it is not as much hard work as you anticipate. You just have to know the right steps to do it right and before long you’ll have your beautiful and relaxing fish tank back once more.
