Tough algae glass stains

[wsoldier]

Hey guys, I've had my tank for over a year and generally clean the glass every few days with my flipper. However, I was gone for the holidays for 2 weeks and this time around I had some pretty nasty stains on the glass from the algae buildup (my sitter only used the soft side for cleaning). I tried replacing my flipper blade, but even so some of the stains aren't budging.

Any suggestions for getting rid of these harder algae buildup? Thanks.

 

[wtac]

Have you tried a razor blade?

 

[Super Fly]

Have you tried a razor blade?

This or one of those long handle algae scrapers w metal blade at tip.

 

[don_chuwish]

The Flipper doesn't put a lot of pressure on the blade, so really tough stuff may not scrape easily. Either use a one sided razor blade or the flipper wet side itself - just put your hand in the tank instead of using the magnet.

 

[wsoldier]

Thanks guys... I was worried about scratching the glass with a razor blade, especially for the stains deep in the tank that are harder to reach.

I'll also try just the wet-side of the flipper alone, thanks.

Any links to recommended long-handle scrappers? Thanks again.

 

[wtac]

If you are worried about scratching the glass, like shaving with a straight razor, make sure the path of scraping is perpendicular to the blade edge.

If you are worried about the corner of the razor scratching when you "land" on the glass, a few runs of the corner on a kitchen knife steel or the side of a honing stone will alleviate that.

If you can reach the hard algae, just do it by hand. Save the $ for other things

Personally I use a MagFloat with an EasyBlade attachment. Cuts everything off the glass...thick coralline algae I use a razor blade with either a holder or handle depending on angle to reduce the stress/fatigue on the fingers/hand. You should find the holder at your hardware store and handles at window cleaning/car detailing outlets. I've seen them listed on Ace Hardware before.

 

[Super Fly]

I got something like this from amazon, works really well but kind of cumbersome to use with hanging light as my arm kept bumping into light while trying to get the right angle to scrape glass...

 

[wtac]

I have one of those myself. I use DE blades that I don't like in my razor and tell "The Boss" its for algae scrapers and not feeding my wet shaving addiction...I have easily 10,000 DE blades of various brands and vintage ;Woot