I just got a RS625 on the stand this weekend. Not even hooked up yet. Obviously it has a lot of smudges, and I was wondering what people use to clean the outside of their glass. What material is least likely to scratch, and what cleaner would be safe (if any)? And while we are at it I know there are a lot of scrapers out there, but are there any other options for interior glass?
I just want to keep this thing looking as good as possible for a long time.
I used a standard glass cleaner for the outside only, being careful to not get any inside the tank when I first opened it. Just wiped down the inside with a damp and then dry paper towel (it's going to get dirty again when you put your sand or other substrate in it).
My favorite thing to clean the inside of the glass (and does a great job outside as well) now that I have living things in my tank is the Mag-Float magnetic cleaner. It has a scrubber side with a scraper on one end for scraping stuff off for the inside of the tank and a soft cloth side for the outside of the tank. It has a VERY strong magnet to keep the pieces on the inside and outside together, but it floats, so if you bump a rock and it comes loose, you don't have to get shoulder-deep in the water to retrieve it - it simply floats to the top for you to grab. It does a fantastic job cleaning the inside and out.
I learned not to keep the 2 pieces together after cleaning, though, because A) it wets the nice soft outer piece, which will then leave streaks if you have to go back and hit a spot you might have missed, and B) I physically can't get the 2 pieces apart, due to the strength of the magnet - I literally have to have my hubby pull them apart for me if I accidentally let them snap together (and mind your fingers if that happens!).
It's very simple to use, though, once you put the inside piece inside the tank and line up the outside piece and GENTLY let them go together with the glass in between, you use the outside piece like a handle and move it up and down or side to side and the inside piece does all the work inside without you getting wet, and the outside piece does a nice job of wiping down the outside! It comes in varying sizes, as well, depending on how big your tank is. I got the Large for my 75 g, and it's great. It doesn't take me long at all to do the entire glass (except the back, which I use a long-handled scraper for). I paid about $30 for it at my fave LFS. Hope this helps! ;Shamefullyembarrased
