Member

Posts: 102
From:
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 01-06-2004 03:01 PM         

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Does anyone ever get the crusty white deposits every now and again on the external parts of their aquarium? (Mine occurs mostly around the lid and filter) If so, anyone know what that is caused from? I never had the problem until I moved up here where I live now. I live in a different state than I used to. I would say it was the water, but since it is external, I don't think it is. I wipe it away, but it comes back.

NTC

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Posts: 11
From:canton ohio
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 01-06-2004 03:04 PM         

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it's calcium deposits from the water nothing to worry about but it can be a pain

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Posts: 18
From:Ann Arbor
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 01-11-2004 09:56 AM         

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Yeah, it is just calcium deposits. There are products you can buy that will remove it easily, but it will always come back.

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Posts: 57
From:Boston
Registered: May 2003

posted 01-11-2004 10:03 AM         

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I have had the same deposits on my tank and never knew what they were. Thanks for asking the question!!! I was wondering though....should anything be added to the water to stop it or is it just more of a problem for us keeping the tank then for the fish?

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Member

Posts: 194
From:Sterling Heights, MI, U.S.A.
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 01-11-2004 11:10 AM         

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also, it could be salt if you have salt added in your water. my saltwater tank always does this after some time.

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Member

Posts: 18
From:Ann Arbor
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 01-12-2004 08:38 AM         

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I don't believe you can or should add anything to the water to make the calcium go away. just use a product or scrub it off the glass. It is just calcium that is too heavy to evaporate with the water, so it gets left behind.

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Moderator

Posts: 806
From:
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 01-12-2004 08:59 PM         

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Hi Newton the Cat, If your tank is glass and not acrylic you can use a single edge razor blade to scrape the stubborn calcium deposits off of the glass. I don't recommend using chemicals on the tank, even on the outside. I've seen people use Windex or glass cleaner on the outside thinking it is safe because it is not inside the tank. A week later they forget about using the glass cleaner the week before and clean the outside with a wet sponge, and then start to clean the inside with the same sponge. BINGO, you guessed it, you now have traces of glass cleaner on the inside of the tank. Remember that aquarium chemicals are measured in PARTS PER MILLION. Even strong odors can create a probelm for aquariums. To give you an idea I'll tell you about a problem we had with one of our customers years ago. This customer came in and bought a complete 55g setup. Everything went well for about 3 months. All of a sudden she lost everything in the tank overnight. She did a water change and bought new fish and 2 days later the same thing happened. This happened several times. We even went out and acclimated the fish into the tank to make sure they were being acclimated properly and it happened again. To make a long story short, what had happened is that after the tank had been setup for about 3 months she was having a pest problem in her kitchen and had the exterminators out to spray the kitchen. They had sprayed behind the dishwasher. The tank was about 4 feet away. Although you couldn't even smell the pesticide normally, when she turned on the dishwasher the heat and humidity brought out the smells very strong and these were getting into the air pump and into the tank. After breaking down the tank and bleaching everything out, she moved the tank to another room and the problem was solved.

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