any of the mineral deposits exposed the the HCL acid will dissolve. Unfortunately the silicone is non reactive so the HCL acid wont do anything. #1 advice in cleaning old tanks? ELBOW GREASE! it also makes the tank much more appreciative because of all the effort you put into it.
Free 35 gal. hex
- Thread starter snake_charmer
- Start date
Hi. It sounds like you have 2 separate problems.
Silicone: I haven't found anything that will dissolve silicone.. you are stuck with razor blades for that.
Lots of sharp razor blades.
"Hard Water Stains": These are the encrusted parts where mineral has settled out of the water on the glass. The trick to getting rid of these in an _empty_ aquarium is to get the pH very acidic and they will dissolve pretty easily. Distilled white vinegar from your grocery store works well. It'll also kill most nasty bugs that are left hiding in the tank too. You can either put it in and scrub, or be lazy like me. I put it in, fill the tank up with water, and wait 24 hours. After the soak a swish of my hand across the glass knocks them right off. No scrubbing required.
HTH,
ellie
Silicone: I haven't found anything that will dissolve silicone.. you are stuck with razor blades for that.
Lots of sharp razor blades."Hard Water Stains": These are the encrusted parts where mineral has settled out of the water on the glass. The trick to getting rid of these in an _empty_ aquarium is to get the pH very acidic and they will dissolve pretty easily. Distilled white vinegar from your grocery store works well. It'll also kill most nasty bugs that are left hiding in the tank too. You can either put it in and scrub, or be lazy like me. I put it in, fill the tank up with water, and wait 24 hours. After the soak a swish of my hand across the glass knocks them right off. No scrubbing required.
HTH,
ellie
Well, 99% of the silicone has been removed. I'll go through it one more time tonight with the razor and clean out all of the shavings. After that I'll wipe it down with the white vinegor using a towel and call it good. Tomorrow, I will mask off and apply silicone.
Sharp razor blades are the best for removing that silicone. Then clean the areas with rubbing alcohol. Can I ask how you are going to filter this tank? I just recently set my mother's 35 hex back up for her. I bought an AC50 for the back because that was about the only one I could find that would fit on it. I placed a power head down lower in the tank to help circulate the water from the bottom upwards. Then added two air stones to help oxygenate. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm not trying to take over the tread with a different subject. Sorry.
Probably just use a smaller fluval canister filter on it with an air stone. I may end up just flipping it for some cash though. I'm not sure yet.
A cannister filter would be good on there. Unfortunately that's not an option for my mother. The problem she had in the past was the ammonia levels. The surface area is rather small in comparison to the depth of the tank. Plus she was using an undergravel filter with far too much gravel on top. Thanks for the information on it. I was just wondering if you had ever had a hex set up and if you had any problems with the ammonia and nitrites.
Well, I finished it all up and it's curing outsite. Some things I noted while doing this as a first timer: 1) Lay down enough silicone the first time so you dont have to try and add more to it a second time. 2) Go over it once, it only gets worse the more you try to correct it. 3) BE CAREFUL with the gun and removing masking tape as the silicone can drip onto the glass and then it becomes a pain to clean off. 4) Wear junky clothes and keep a towl nearby to correct any mishaps.
Overall I think I did a decent job for it being my first time. Hopefully, the finished product will hold water perfectly!
Overall I think I did a decent job for it being my first time. Hopefully, the finished product will hold water perfectly!
