The worlds best glass cleaner

I've had some of my tanks for almost 20 years old. They have always been in a working fish room so I was never much concerned about hard water stains on the tank glass until I set up this fish room with a sofa in front of the tanks. Since the tanks are as much for beauty as and breeding and grow out space the hard water stains really bothered me and nothing would get them off. I used CLR and even acidic toilet bowl cleaner which worked better than the CLR but not well enough. Last week I bought cleaning vinegar at the dollar store. A half gallon of the stuff was less that $2. I gave it a try and now the outside of my tanks are crystal clear. From now on, when I have an empty tank I will use it on both the inside and out side of the glass. I put it in a spray bottle and use it like I would use Windex. Try it. You'll like it.
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I use something call Lime Away.

Cliff

I bought Lime Away at the same time I bought the cleaning vinegar. I have another tank that I can try it on and compare the results.

Be a little careful... It was Vinegar that I used with razor blades to remove all of the residual silicon from the 8 tanks that I de-rimmed and de-based (ergo... my home-made rimless 20 gallon long aquariums). I couldn't believe the difference it made. My sense is that the vinegar was aiding in the silicon removal process.

I will be careful. Now that the glass is clear I'll go back to regular windex.

My favorite option for cleaning empty aquariums with really bad hard water stains is Barkeeper's Friend - basically Oxalic Acid. You can also get the pure stuff from places like Amazon.

I cleaned up a tank that wasn't maintained or cleaned and sat for quite a few years. BKF cleaned it up with ease, whereas vinegar couldn't make a dent. Now I swear by it. As far as cleaning the glass of aquariums with fish in them, I use Frtiz's Glass Cleaner.

Thanks so much for the info. I've looked for it locally for something else and couldn't find it. I'll get some from Amazon.

+1 for all the recommendations guys. I had tried with no success to remove those stubborn hard water stains which build up rather quickly due to the hard water I have here. Previously I had tried a liberal amount of elbow grease, which only eliminated half of the stains. Good thing I have all the products you've mentioned in my house such as the vinegar, barkeepers friend.

It's cleaning vinegar which is way more concentrated than salad dressing vigegar.

I got suckered into trying Fritz Aquarium glass cleaner. It bragged about being ammonia free and safe to use around fish. It was supposed to be streak free and repel dust, fingerprints and water stains. Needless to say I found it to be snake oil in an pricey spray bottle- at least in my opinion. It leaves this weird coating on the glass that’s hard to get off. Maybe if you are good at car detailing and buffing it would be okay. I’m back to spraying windex on a paper towel away from the tank and then just a quick swipe works beautifully.
The stronger dollar store version does sound great for occasional stubborn spots. It could be useful on some reef equipment at well. Dissolving that hard purple coralline algae on my wave pumps is a chore. Thanks Liz.

Jake, My Barkeepers Friend just arrived. I have a 10 and a 29 that are empty and light enough to carry to my dog grooming room where I can put them in the tub and clean them inside and out well. My oldest tanks are 120 wides with thick glass and gussets in the corners. No way I can move it. Can I clean it inside and out and do a huge 100% WC followed by another 100% WC? My other old tanks contain fish so I can clean the outside of their glass.

I can't wait to get on this hard tomorrow. I feel sorry for my old tanks. Although they have been abused they have served me well for many years.

Liz, this was the process that I followed. Mix up the BKF with water until it forms a "slurry", somewhat to the consistency of pancake batter. Take the slurry and spread it on the hard water stains and let it sit on there for 5-10 minutes (or as long as you want, really). The idea is that the slurry is thick enough to stick to the glass without completely running off. If the slurry is thick, you can use a spray bottle with water to keep it misted. The slurry is best to take care of the more stubborn stains. Once those are taken care of, any smaller stains can be handled with a more diluted mixture and cleaned off using a non-linting towel. You don't need to fill the entire aquarium and dump a bunch of it in there to sit. Be warned, oxalic acid is some pretty gnarly stuff - I'd wear some form of cleaning gloves to protect your hands.

As far as cleanup is concerned, a good rinse should do the trick - I rinsed all sides and bottom, making sure to wipe them down with a fresh towel. I repeated that process 3 or 4 more times, each time emptying the aquarium completely (maybe a maximum of 30G of water total) You can stick with your plan of multiple 100% WCs or do a good rinse with the hose and clean that up. If you're wanting to be extra precautious, you can use something less corrosive like plain vinegar to clean up any "residue" that might remain from BKF and then clean up how you normally would from that using water.

The friend I helped clean up the aquarium for was a 120 wide and was literally built into one of the walls of their house. Working room was maybe 12" all around and there was no way we were moving it since it was practically wedged in place.

Thanks, Jake. I can't wait to see the results!

Cleaning vinegar is the bomb. I use it on my lids mostly. couple scrubs let it sit. another scrub and rinse and POW! Clean.