Mystery Film - need help :-)

gahumphrey · Jan 6, 2020

Hi there. I called both BRS and MarineDepot today and spoke to an expert to see if they could help me identify the film on the inside of my tank glass and how to remove it. Unfortunately no luck yet.

The tank is an Innovative Marine Nuvo SR-80. It is an established, mixed-reef tank of 6 years. I neglected the tank over the past 6 months but have all the parameters back in shape and all the corals are doing great now.

However, there is a strange white translucent film on the inside of the glass. You can see in the attached photo where there is a part of the glass in the middle of the picture that doesn’t have this film.

I can’t figure out how to remove it. I can’t scrap it (tried a scraper and a razor blade) and I can’t scrub it off with the abrasive side of a sponge.

Any thoughts on what it could be and how I can remove it?

Big G · Jan 6, 2020

Probably calcium deposits. Vinegar will remove it. But that would require a tear down. Could lower the water level a bit and try treating a very, very small area with vinegar to confirm or eliminate calcium as your problem. It's tough getting that stuff off even when the tank is empty. Good luck!

jace · Jan 6, 2020

Oh man if it is calcium deposits I can't imagine you can remove it without a vinegar soak and teardown. If a razor isn't doing it then little else will.

Terri Caton · Jan 6, 2020

Or look at it this way. A tank tear down would let you rescape, get rid of pests, etc!

gahumphrey · Jan 7, 2020

Big G said:
Probably calcium deposits. Vinegar will remove it. But that would require a tear down. Could lower the water level a bit and try treating a very, very small area with vinegar to confirm or eliminate calcium as your problem. It's tough getting that stuff off even when the tank is empty. Good luck!

ugh, that's what i was afraid of! Thanks for the reply!