FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I apologize for being a newbie and starting out with a question but I'm not sure the right move to make first. I was just given an old glass 29 gallon aquarium which is loaded with what looks like calcium and hard water stains. I've done some research and found numerous cleaning tactics including vinegar, baking soda, and a product called "Barkeeper's Friend". Also using a razor blade scraper first to remove the bulk of the stains. Any suggestions or comments pointing me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. I would like very much to save this tank if possible. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Make a mix of vinegar and water and just let it sit in the tank for a few days, which should eat the stains. Then empty and rinse with water and keep rinsing. Then finally let it sit for a couple weeks to make sure that the tank has no vinegar vapor in it, because vinegar is a herbicide. Afterwards you should be able to use it for plants.

Or if you don't want to wait awhile you can just scrape the whole tank by hand, which will take a few to several hours depending on how much calcium buildup you have.

I use the barkeepers friend on my glass shower door and it works great on hard water/soap scum/calcium.

Boil some citric acid in distilled water.... let it cool and pour it in, I promise it'll eat any hard water stains


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Good morning to all. I sincerely appreciate such a quick response. I'm gonna try your suggestions starting with the least damaging process. I did try the vinegar on a small area and it removed some but I think using the soak method will reduce the amount of scrubbing necessary. Soak, scrape if needed then disinfectant sounds like a cure. Thanks again for your help, I'll let you know how it turns out. Have a good one