dreams Posted December 17, 2010 Report Share Posted December 17, 2010 Hey guys, I have a tank with calcium deposits on the glass that i would like to remove, any ideas on how? I've tried vinegar to desolve it but it hasn't worked. Someone recomended sandpaper? But how fine and what grade should it be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted December 17, 2010 Report Share Posted December 17, 2010 Sandpaper will scratch the glass and ruin the tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted December 17, 2010 Report Share Posted December 17, 2010 some deposits can be etched into the glass and are impossible to remove one of our club members has used a shower stain remover successfully i have used a glass rubbing compound (like jewellers rouge) and a craft knife blade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted December 17, 2010 Report Share Posted December 17, 2010 Someone recomended sandpaper? But how fine and what grade should it be? Please don't use sandpaper! Use a sharp blade, like one from a craft knife to scrape the salts off when you wet the glass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted December 17, 2010 Report Share Posted December 17, 2010 It is hard to remove and like others have said actually etches into the glass, something like what living art suggests would be good a really fine polish or something like that.. I use scotch brite and glass cleaner on my lids that get it, but it does scratch it (hence why I only did that on lids). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted December 17, 2010 Report Share Posted December 17, 2010 I had serious calcium deposits on the surface of a 20+ year old tank I got at a good price. It was a resonable size tank so worth the effect to remove the buildup. Acid did not work and for me, neither did a scrapper (although it might work for you). In the end I polished the calcium out. Using a metal cutting polish for stainless steel and an electric buffer I spent a whole day polishing the front glass. The front glass was 2.4m x 0.65m so quite a big area to polish. It took about 3-4 minutes to polish up a section of the glass about the same size as the buffing wheel. The polish I used was very fine as I was worried about leaving visible marks in the glass. You also have to be carefull not to get the glass too hot. Every 30 seconds or so I would stop to check the glass temperature. As soon as it started to get a little warm I'd move to another spot and wait for it to cool back down. If the glass gets too hot it will crack. The result was almost perfect. It even managed to polish some of the visible scratches out. The scratch was still there but due to it's edges being rounded off they weren't nearly as visible as they were. If all else fails maybe you can try polishing the glass... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted December 17, 2010 Report Share Posted December 17, 2010 Must have been etching rather than calcium if acid didn't dissolve it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted December 17, 2010 Report Share Posted December 17, 2010 Could have been - except that if the calcium is etched into the surface of the glass then treating it with acid only creates another calcium salt - which may still be white. I tried Hydrochloric which should have made calcium chloride - normally reasonably water slouable. I also tried sulphuric but no result either. If you're going to try strong acids like the 2 mentioned, make sure you know what you're doing as they can be very dangerous. Whether it was etching or deposits or a combination of both, polishing ended up being my only option... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoon Posted December 17, 2010 Report Share Posted December 17, 2010 at the supermarket you can buy a scraper for cleaning ceramic cook tops its branded ceraclean this is what i use Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the-obstacle Posted December 17, 2010 Report Share Posted December 17, 2010 I've read great things about the turtle wax heavy duty rubbing compound as it has the same hardness as glass it won't scratch the glass but will get everything else off. I read it on a US based site and it seems you can't get the heavy duty version here but I've got the normal stuff I intend to use in the next week or so so I'll let you know how that goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreams Posted December 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2010 Thanks for all the knowledge and replys! I've tried the scraper - doesn't work, I suspect if I want it off, it will have to be Warrens method Keep me updated the-obstacle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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