1st acrylic tank...best way to clean w/o scratching

[Below Radar]

Pretty much what the title says. I bought my first acrylic tank and would like to know an effective way of cleaning the surface without harming it. Do's don'ts, what to use and not to use...etc etc
Thanks in advance
Terry

[hebygb]

Floating magnet cleaners are OK... but mainly for the top 3/4 of the viewing surface. Make sure you use the blue ones designed for acrylic. The best way is by hand with a pad. An old credit card works well for corners, coraline and sticky stuff. If you have sand in your DT, use the credit card only at the bottom near the sand line.... push down against the acrylic into sand, wipe (or at least clear the card of any grains, and repeat.

All of my tanks are acrylic. Love them.

[Gyyro]

Yep have to agree with the credit card for sure works great, another thing to get your mag cleaner to work better in to cover the inside cleaner with the netting from a Dobie scrubby pad works way better.

-Matt

[jedimaster1138]

You can use a magnetic - with an internal side pad that's for acrylic - just be VERY careful not to pick up any sand/gravel along the way. I did that, didn't notice, swiped across my acrylic (the front too) and proceeded to run 4 scratches right in the middle of the pane. :mad:

[Below Radar]

Awesome, my tank is what I would consider "cleaning Friendly"...it's only 18" tall. Just heard that acrylic was super easy to scratch.

[mikelee35]

They make plastic scrapers for acrylic also, its a little more work than a razor on glass, but they do work pretty good

[Aquatron]

I use a piece of acrylic about 3-4 inches wide to clean bottom 6" around DT. You need to keep edge flat against tank wall while cleaning works great. I alway's pay attention when cleaning my tanks and my acrylic tanks look good for years. It's not doing above that dooms most acrylic tanks:)

[tahiriqbal]

Melamine foam :)

Tahir

[Detroit_306]

i use magic erasers

[Below Radar]

Good tips. Keep'em comin'

[Below Radar]

Magic eraser?

[LeonPhelps]

It seems like a magic eraser would be a bad idea. Do they have some sort of chemical in them?

[Gorgok]

Original magic erasers are awesome, and other than credit cards is the only thing i use. I use them on my magnet.

All it is is a high grit sanding block really, but the good kind that gives an even surface instead of running streaks where the high points are in the grit.

Any of the other flavors of magic erasers has other stuff in it, especially the kitchen and bath ones.

[pgr11]

Original magic eraser is all I use as well. Works awesome and no scratches. Works on the tough stuff as well. Must be the original.