BOUGHT A USED TANK - VERY DIRTY - NEED HELP!

[gnashty]

I bought a 50 gal bowfront used on craigslist (glass tank). i thought i got a good deal it showed up and my wife accepted it (i wasnt home from work yet).
It housed 2 aquatic turtles and looks like it was never cleaned. it has hard scale crust around the trim and some green algea (or whatever it is) deeply imbedded in the lower front inside and is just generally in bad shape. I have been told to NEVER use a household cleaner to clean a tank but this thing is not going to get clean with a capful of bleach and elbow grease. i have tooo much invested to call it a learned lesson so what can i use to clean it?
it also has a few good size scratches on the inside, are these fillable or am i out of luck?

 

[manfromnantucket]

I bought a 50 gal bowfront used on craigslist (glass tank). i thought i got a good deal it showed up and my wife accepted it (i wasnt home from work yet).
It housed 2 aquatic turtles and looks like it was never cleaned. it has hard scale crust around the trim and some green algea (or whatever it is) deeply imbedded in the lower front inside and is just generally in bad shape. I have been told to NEVER use a household cleaner to clean a tank but this thing is not going to get clean with a capful of bleach and elbow grease. i have tooo much invested to call it a learned lesson so what can i use to clean it?
it also has a few good size scratches on the inside, are these fillable or am i out of luck?

vinegar and a new sharp razor should get it pretty clean. as far as the scrtaches i dont know...sorry.

 

[swede]

nothing really that can be done about the scratches. vinegar to clean it will definitely help. Lots of baking soda along with the vinegar makes it work better and will rinse away no problem

 

[koop171]

If it's hard water stains just use some CLR it will clean easy. then just make sure to clean it afterwards with some regular non amonia (sp) glass cleaner. And lastly wash the tanks out VERY well before adding fish. that's the best way to clean a very nasty tank. I've done it a few times and as long as you clean it out very well once you're done you won't have to worry about what was in the cleaner.

 

[Morledzep]

vinegar, with baking soda either separately or together. someone suggested a diet soda but that's pretty much baking soda with flavor.

cool thing about vinegar and baking soda is even if you don't rinse as thoroughly as you think you did you won't kill your fish.

 

[velanarris]

You can try a microsander to buff out the scratches but the rule of thumb is if you can feel them with your fingernail, they're too deep to buff out.

I've used rainex on the outside of my tank before and that works fairly well.
Protip: NEVER use rainex on the inside of a tank, you can almost never get it out of the water column and it will kill fish. (luckily, I did not learn this the hard way.)

 

[gomezladdams]

Vinegar,razor blades and elbow grease!Be careful with the blades you dont want to make more scratches.You can also use superfine steel wool,but ive used plastic sink scrubbies with the vinegar and it works great.

Unless the scratches are really bad you may not even notice them when the tank is filled.