Cloudy glass on old 110

[Lawsman]

A "film on the outside"? Did the tank leak? My tank has whatever is is on the inside. The outside looks okay to me. This 110 tank was a salt water tank for years? Literally, gave the fish away to a friend, then drained the water out of it and moved it to my new house. Never even rinsed it out with fresh water with all the chaso going on during the move. I am now paying the price and hoping the acid will remove the "cloud"?

Tank is on the porch now "cooking" outside-hope is does not freeze anytime soon?

[blacksmith37]

The tank is in a "greenhouse" , so I didn't do much to clean spills, etc; and now I can't get it clean . PS- I have tried most "lime removal" type shower and toilet cleaners.

[algarciajr]

Tank is on the porch now "cooking" outside-hope is does not freeze anytime soon?

Have you emptied tank yet, curious to see how it came out with the muratic acid?

[Lawsman]

Update- Just drained it. I am flushing the tank out now. I don't think it worked, hard to tell in the rain and all. Just ticks me off, the tank is in great shape, except the "clouds".

I have all the filters/pumps,etc for a RR tank. Now, I don't know what to do with the freaker.

Good news is..My other new tank with Red Rainbow's is doing well. If i could only just convince the Wife to get rid of the air statues, I think they are ready to do their thing. But, she has this mermaid(her) and a diver (me) that she has looking at each other? The mermaid has an airline to it, so it bubbles all the time and the diver has air that fills up a treasure chest that goes up and down when it is filled up with air. I know, don't say anything........

I told her that the RR's will never mate when they have a mermaid with gas and a diver intermitently showing off his little trasures

[billansor]

A question?? Wasn't there something about buffing scratches out of glass??? Would a very fine buffing compound with a detail type sander pad work without the fumes?????

I know that they use a buffering compound for my glasses which are real glass due to my nearsightedness... I really do not know but just a thought..

Bill

[fshfrk]

Probably a little elbow grease with a floss pad & water and the clouds will be gone.

[Complexity]

I wonder if the cloudiness is caused by the glass being etched instead of a film sitting on top of the glass.

[Complexity]

I was doing some reading, and it appears that diatoms can etch the glass by eating (or somehow using) the small amount of silica in the glass. This appears to happen with saltwater tanks, which is what you said this tank had been used for.

I then ran across this thread. I thought it was an interesting idea. I have NO idea if it's as safe as the guy claims, but if nothing else, it would be worth a shot before tossing the tank to the curb.

http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/general-discussion/41263-personal-breakthrough-cleaning-glass-haze-mineral-spots.html

[Lawsman]

Okay Heavy duty Turtle Wax compound it is.

Will keep you posted.

[Complexity]

If you do try the Turtle Wax compound, take pics to show us all how it goes. It would be interesting to get before, during, and after pics.

[algarciajr]

I have been trying to find a glass polishing kit to try and use on a 105 gallon aquarium that I believe has been etched by the water. Trying to see if I can find it locally if not I will order online. I tried using straight muratic acid, vinegar, and "CLR" on the glass lid to try and see what works, and nothing has so far.

[Complexity]

When I was reading last night, I stumbled into a number of glass polishing kits that are intended to be used for car windshields. I don't know if any of them are safe for aquariums, but it might be worth doing some google searching to find out.

[cameracorpus]

I've been following this thread closely since I have a few tanks with cloudy glass, stained glass, all the usual stuff. Some of the tanks I have were used for reptiles, so a lot of the gunk is in the middle, not on top.

I tried the rubbing compound and it did help, but only by a small amount. The worst spots are still there. And that was on a 10 gallon. I wouldn't attempt a big tank without power tools. A foam buffing pad on a polisher would work if you were really careful.

I'm familiar with the windshield kits. They'd do just as well if not better than the rubbing compound. Same basic principal. The only thing is that the buffing tool can go off balance and beat up the glass. I'd be afraid of shattering anything less than 3/16" glass. Automotive glass is very strong, many aquariums are made with plain old non-tempered non-laminated glass.

It's a shame that the water hurts the glass like it does. I'd hate to take a survey of how many bad tanks everyone has.

[algarciajr]

I tried using the Turtle Wax rubbing compound and also Turtle Wax polishing compound to remove the haze from some glass lids before trying to use it on a used 105 gallon aquarium I bought with a haze on the glass that previous owner could not remove. The two compounds did not work for me. I thought I would be able to get it off with CLR because it has worked for me in the past, but not this time. As a last resort for the 105 gallon I am going to try and get a glass polishing kit with cerium oxide to see if that will polish the glass.

I bought an 8" buffing pad at the auto parts and used it with my drill to clean the inside glass on some other used tanks I bought to remove light calcium build up. I sprayed the pad and glass with CLR's Bathroom and Kitchen spray and the tanks came out very clean, like new almost.

[Lawsman]

Yeah, I tried the rubbing compound. Better, but not good enough to put in my living room. It would drive me crazy looking at the "cloud" and just get ticked off! I have learned a lesson-in your haste in moving to new home, rinse tank(was salt water tank) out with water before storing tank!

Now, I have a new 180 Aqueon that is no where near the same quality of my old Oceanic.