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how often do you scrape the tank?


moga

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how often do you scrap the tank

 

well if your steve you scrap the tank every two months or so. :laugh:

 

on my 47 column tank i only had to scrape (with razor) about once a month but since i had no sps or lps i didnt bothere keeping up the ca and alk. i mag floated the glass about weekly for algae.

 

on xtinas tank (mexicanjavafish / sept totm) it gets scrapped with a razor every 1.5 to 2 weeks though there is no ca or kalkbreactor she has far more stable and flow biased tank so the live sand and live rock do a pretty good job keeping the ca and alk (&pH) where they need to be for slow but noticable growth. it gets mag floated about once a week maybe a bit more often if the skimmer hasnt been cleaned in a little while and its underperforming a bit

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well if your steve you scrap the tank every two months or so. :laugh:

 

on my 47 column tank i only had to scrape (with razor) about once a month but since i had no sps or lps i didnt bothere keeping up the ca and alk. i mag floated the glass about weekly for algae.

 

on xtinas tank (mexicanjavafish / sept totm) it gets scrapped with a razor every 1.5 to 2 weeks though there is no ca or kalkbreactor she has far more stable and flow biased tank so the live sand and live rock do a pretty good job keeping the ca and alk (&pH) where they need to be for slow but noticable growth. it gets mag floated about once a week maybe a bit more often if the skimmer hasnt been cleaned in a little while and its underperforming a bit

nice zinger! you're 2 for 2 recently.

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Mostly Kent plastic scrapers if I'm scraping. I'll re-dress the edge frequently to keep it sharp using a very fine grain wet-or-dry sandpaper. This helps make the blade last longer. Scraping seems to be the only way to remove my coraline unless I take out my acrylic polishing kit and basically sand it away.

 

Having come from a glass aquarium, I miss being able to use real blades to scrape off coraline. However, a glass 180 was going to be nearly impossible for me to get into my basement and the deal I got on the acrylic was impossible to pass up. Needless to say, I'm always on the lookout for a better (meaning: faster and with less effort) way to keep the panels clean.

 

I've got some big magnet cleaners, too. Among them a big old Mag-Float 510A (which is way oversized for my panel but which came at a 'couldn't-pass-up' price) and a rather expensive Mighty Magnet cleaner. I mostly use the Mighty Magnet to keep my panels clean. I have several pad types for the Mighty Magnet as well as the so-called 'algae-dozer' pads which have an embedded blade designed to doze away coraline. The most frequent accessory that I use with my Mighty Magnet cleaner is their Super Algae Cutter sock, which is essentially a Dobie pad cover that fits around the wet side part.

 

I recently came across this very interesting discussion though at Reef Central: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1712980

 

Several of the people on that thread recommend and are amazed at the performance of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers (available at your local grocery store!) to clean and polish acrylic panels both inside and out. It's not too good with coraline, though. Scraping seems to be the way to go for coraline unless you want to basically sand it away with polishing sandpaper.

 

I'm also intrigued by the mag-flip cleaner with an acrylic blade. I wonder if anybody here has one and would be willing to report on it.

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In a good day, 8 times. Depends on traffic.

 

Flip-magnet is junk. Cute idea, magnet is too week.

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In a good day, 8 times. Depends on traffic.

 

Flip-magnet is junk. Cute idea, magnet is too week.

 

That's what you get for making a living of it, though!

 

Thanks for the heads up on the flip-magnet. Nothing like an acrylic tank to get you looking for an easier way to scrape the crud off.

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Tom,

 

I have the answer for that... but it doesn't come in a box. I make em.

 

Removes coriline from acrylic like a razor on glass.... but without scratching. Tested to 1.25 inch thick acrylic. I can't decide if I should patent it and sell, or pull a "Durso" and give it to the world.

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