Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have kept my cal king in a 20 long for 4 years now... my baby still seems to be growing and I wanted to get her a bigger cage. Well a few weeks ago I broke the bottom of her cage cleaning it out...

I searched craigs list and found a guy selling a 45 long, 55 long and a stand for $50. I figured it would be perfect... and it is... but this guy IS A SLOB!@!

The tank was used for brackish water, and the tanks are NASTY. His house was a mess, and the tanks were worse. They have been drained but never cleaned and have that foggy look to them. I sucked the remaining gravel out with a gas station vacume and pressure washed most of the crud out, however I am left with the foggy slimey look. I am going to work on them tomorrow...

What is the best method for cleaning this stuff off? Any suggestions to remove the algae/slime/salt that is on the sides of the tanks?

Thanks alot!
-Vic

i had the same proble EXACTLY. found a tank on craigslist and i was horrible. i used goo-gone, brasso and the rough side of a sponge. costs about 10 bucks at target total. if that doesnt work let me know.

What exactly is brasso? I was thinking of using a combo of bleach and a rough dish sponge. Hopefully ill get it clean, its my project tomorrow.

I am gonna clean the heck out of the tanks, sand down and repaint the stand, and rejoint the tanks. Then I get to make some nice little lids for the cages...

I have been bored lately, this gives me a cool little prject for the next two days. Hopefully it cleans up!

That guy was a scumbag.

brasso is a brass cleaner. but it works amazing at cleaning tanks and even getting rid of scratches out of ipods and computers

Posted by: jkearney at Sun Aug 26 23:45:28 2007 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]

brasso is a brass cleaner. but it works amazing at cleaning tanks and even getting rid of scratches out of ipods and computers

Wouldnt Brasso scratch the glass ? I recall using that in the army . The thought of it makes me ill lol

The white haze you are referring to is called "scale". I used to get it in my turtle tanks, at the water level, its residual deposits from minerals in the water.

Pet stores sell something to get rid of it, but in my opinion it doesn't work too well.

Just don't use anything too abrasive as you my scratch the glass. Also make sure you air out any chemical smells before putting your snakes in them.
-----
"The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think. Oh by the way, which ones pink?"

Lemon juice. Seriously, it works amazingly well.

Easiest no-chemical way to clean off the deposits is by simply scraping with a single edge razor blade. Be careful of the silicone sealing in case you ever want it to hold water again. Wet the surfaces to be scraped first though as it helps ease removal of the deposits.
-----
Matt Campbell

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in." John Muir

Back when I kept fish tanks hot and heavy I would clean the tanks out with vinegar and water. Worked really well and was easy to clean up when I was finished. Of course I never had any massive layers of hard water stains so not sure how effective it will be against the like.

Good luck.
-----
Randall L Turner Jr.
Boas make the world go round.

razorblades are the only surefire way I've removed buildup on glass.
Nate

Razor blades are a must, although I've heard of people using CLR for really stubborn scaling.

How is the aluminiumterrarium coming?

I think I got the Euro spelling right, LOL.
-----
Current snakes:

0.0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java locale (green)

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Malaysian locale (green)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java local (green)

2.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Seleyar locale (all black)

1.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Celebes locale (Black & Tan)

Actually I ended up using a bathroom cleaner to remove some of the worst scaling. The tank is not perfect, 4 hours total cleaning time on both tanks and I am worn out!

I used bleach to start, which took off most of the algea and junk... but did not phase the mineral deposits. I then hosed the tanks out a few times and used "the works" bathroom cleaner. That stuff is high acidic, so I had to be careful with the bleach, but it took off about everything else.

I sanded down the rusty stand and repainted it and today I will be making some lids. I also have to resilicone the joints to make sure everything is tight.

Thanks for the tips guys!