Good glass cleaner for aquarium?

[Deja Q]

Hiya! How do fish lovers clean the exterior of their tanks? I've cleaned mine by spraying Windex on a soft cloth and applying the cloth to the aquarium, but there are streaks, and trying to photograph the fish (with a flash) results in the streaks standing out badly.

Thx!

[BlueJazz]

1. I use Dawn (dish detergent) and a small squeegee.

Dish detergent works great for cleaning glass (naturally)

[Noordam]

9. :kick:

:kick:

[dweller]

2. use old newspaper

instead of paper towels for any glass or mirror. You'd be suprised at the results.
No lint, streaks, or leftover oils.
Just take the paper, crumple it up 2 or 3 times till it's softer and go at it.

good luck
dp

[Heddi]

3. DON'T USE WINDEX

a very small amount of that in your tank and your fish are kaput!

I know I know--we're all careful---but really---I know a gal who had a beautiful 50g stocked with a prized line of fish, and they all went belly up when her spray went awry and windex got into the tank.

I use white vinegar. It's safe for the fish, doesn't streak, and doesn't smell once it dries.

One thing you should look into is lint-free cloths/paper towels. I can't remember where I got mine--maybe a film store...not sure...but anyways, they're good for Aquariums b/c in addition to the vinegar not leaving streaks, the paper doesn't leave lint on the glass and makes pictures come out THAT much nicer!

What kind of tank do you have? What kind of fish? Me love fish :)

[Deja Q]

4. 37 gallon...

7 tiger barbs (one has a sore spot on his right side though, but I'm trying to get rid of them all anyway) and 3 Paradise Gourami. Sometime I'm going to get 3 gold gourami as well.

White vinegar sounds like a great idea, thanks!

I'll have pics of the fish coming soon...

[Heddi]

7. ooooh I used to have tiger barbs

and they were VICIOUS! I got 5 of them for a community tank (wrong advice, mister fishstore man). When they started to attempt to eat my other fish, I put them in their own tank. Then, having no one else to devour, they started trying to canabalize each other.

I thought they were called "tiger barbs" for their stripes...was I wrong. :)

Ended up taking them back to the store and getting black-skirt tetras instead.

So in the 30g, I've got an angel-fish, a female betta, some black skirt tetras, 2 very old leopard danios, and some corys. Oh. And a shitload of Yellow Apple snails.

Good thing about yellow apple snails--they breed like rabbits, and the fish store gives me $0.24 credit for each one I bring in/

Bad thing about yellow apple snails--they breed like rabbits and eat all my aquarium plants.

Sigh.

Back to plastic it was for me :)

[Lungs]

5. Sucker-fish

They work great. Get three.

[dweller]

6. they won't last too long

on the outside of the tank...
:)
dp

[BiggJawn]

8. Vinegar and newspaper outside, razor blade inside.

Not only do I have to deal with alge, but our Oxygen Hydrate here has a LOT of dissolved minerals.
I call it "Liquid Limestone...

[Lefty48197]

10. Get a big fat cat

It will lick the glass clean.

[salinen]

11. cold water tank

Not really knowledgable about glass cleaning but I once had a cold water marine tank. An old undercounter refridgerator as the chiller and an ocean full of friends. I'd go to the tidepools and look under rocks and also catch them bare handed. What's really great is when you move, just take your friends back to the tidepool. They always gave me a loving last glance before returning home.