Personal breakthrough cleaning glass haze & mineral spots

Greetings fellow fish keepers I have good news that merits a new thread. Some of you who have been following my post know I have been having issues trying to eliminate mineral deposits, hard water lines, and hard water haze. You also know that I have tried almost everything with very limited results from vinegar to CLR, acids, even snake oil products that amounted to nothing more then corn starch and ammonia, all of those products the result of limited research. After conducting a much more thorough research I discovered (long story short) that glass has a harness on the scale of 1-9 9 being diamonds glass is 6 and requires a mineral based abrasive preferably in the form of a liquid for uniformity. Jewelers use expensive compounds that cost about $10 a stick.

I found a few folks that have used automobile heavy duty rubbing compound which contains powerful abrasives to remove layers of paint. and although the abrasives in the paste are powerful there hardness is way below 6 hardness so glass is buffed rather then scratched.

So I went out and bought a 10oz can Turtle Wax "Heavy Duty Rubbing Compound" (not regular) for $3 and took a rolled up clean cotton sock wet with purified water (important). and with a dab of compound started cleaning a small test section of my haze inside aquarium glass in strait linear motions not circles just for about 20 good strokes and after a wipe down with a clean paper towel damp with distilled water and blow dry to see if there was any change, YAHOO! My glass had a clean clear bright area where I had rubbed, surrounded by haze waiting to be removed.

It even cleaned the badly etched top pane of glass covers however because that glass was etched by mineral deposits once clean you could actually see the layers of glass that were missing sort of like how melted wax looks in flat melted layers after its hardened, only in this case it clear again.

This heavy duty rubbing compound has no smelly or irritating chemicals to gas you out only a water based paste wax with powerful abrasives designed to remove layers paint fast does not scratch the glass because of its low hardness but your rubbing must be linear not circular or you'll have buff marks like on a car look great but not on an aquarium

 

wow, I wouldn't have ever thought about that! congrats!!

 

That is such a good idea I am deffinetly going to have to try that sometime. Where do you get the stuff?

 

I bought mine at Auto zone but any automotive section should carry it just be sure its Turtle wax brand "heavy duty rubbing compound" with the caution on the back instructions that it has powerful abrasives, do not buy the polishing compound with mild abrasives its way too weak.

 

Thanks I'll have to bring my husband or my dad with me to make sure I get the right stuff. When it comes to automotive stuff I am totally lost, lol.

 

I'm glad you're getting the results you want.
One thing I'd be concerned about......is it removing hard water stains or filling in scratches on the glass?
If it's the latter, aren't you worried about this stuff leaching back into the tank?

 

Good work and thanks for the info. Now you will truely have your dream tank without those nasty water marks. Glad to hear you found a solution that worked for you!

 

UPDATE! Because the tank is so tall I have been using a 5" metal pole with a squeegee/sponge attachment with an old cotton sock over the end which works great as the sponge holds the water and the sock holds the paste allowing me to take long strokes. I previously told you to only take linear strokes which is correct if your using a "hard" abrasive 6 or above, but apparently the strong abrasive used in this product is so much "less harder" that no matter what direction I polishes it just gets cleaned off with absolutly no rub marks, YE-HA!. But it does take sweat about 300 calories and I'm 3/4 finishes with one 48"X32" side as some haziness is more stubborn then others I found concentrating hand strokes works for those more stubborn areas. After what I call a cession of rubbing keeping the area damp with enough paste just to see it visible on the glass I will stop after about 15 minutes of nonstop rubbing remove the the buff pad and take a clean cloth very damp with RO water and wipe off the glass getting any paste off then a spray of glass cleaner and a another wipe with clean paper towels. Why the glass cleaner? So you can clearly see your work and what is left behind without speculation the glass cleaner will show what still there, don't worry the residue can come off once your done with a little vinegar and water. The results are measured in minutes instead of days and can't be appreciated until you start to see the glass becoming more and more invisible and then all the work made worth it almost to emotion for me as this was truly a hard fought battle..
OK break over, back to work LOL!

 

I missed your question but saw it as I was about to get back to work. So I called the 1800 number on the can to spoke to Turtle Wax and surprisingly they put me in touch with someone who knows the chemistry and purpose of this product. Fist off in answering your question Lucy they said that the product is designed not to leave any residue because it would interfere with it ability to abrasion and remove layers of dirt, oxidation and paint, also would interfere with wax polish and oils designed to be applied later, this product has none. The product is a non-petroleum water based carrier with suspended silica super fine dust and volcanic ash designed to remove dirt, minerals, oxidation and paint if necessary. The reason why it doesn't scratch the glass is because its a super fine powder abrasive of silica & Volcanic ash which has the exact same hardness as glass 6. so the result is a wash with only the softer materials like dirt, calcium and magnesium being removed and the glass only getting sharp micro surfaces smoothed out or polished. The coarseness would have to be greater to see any abrasion marks but since the powder far exceeds 2500 grit it cannot visibly scuff glass.
IMHO Residue if any comes off with the ammonia cleaner which dissolves all greases and oils and waxes, then vinegar removes that followed by RO which absorbers any toxins because RO has no ions it pulls in anything it can. But besides all this the amount of any residue after all that cleaning would be in the PPB's (Parts per billion) which means there are far more contaminants that would be sucked in through your air pump then off the surface of the cleaned glass, so no worries.

I'm glad you're getting the results you want.
One thing I'd be concerned about......is it removing hard water stains or filling in scratches on the glass?
If it's the latter, aren't you worried about this stuff leaching back into the tank?

 

Cool, thanks for following up on that.

 

Gunner I just tried with some other rubbing compound that I had in the garage safe for clear coat and it took every little mark that I had left on the tank. Yay. Awesome discovery.

 

Oh boy I'm exhausted but I finished all 3 sides only the original front side that was maintained by the original owner is already clean.I know I sound a bit wimpy but it was all the extreme bending over to reach the bottom of the tank on my tiptoes that was killing me, the tank separator glass at the top also made it difficult. At one point I actually fell in balancing on my head and almost couldn't get my feet back on the ground, the wife taking a nap and my cat looking at me from outside meow lol. There might be a small spot on the bottom I missed but the tank glass looks awesome compared to what it looked like this morning and defiantly ready to be mounted as soon as I wipe the inside down with RO to clean out any residue paste. Anyway Ill be running carbon in the filters and with the new sand when I see the diatom bloom start ill know it organism safe. Beside there will be at least 72 hours before water test show cycle bacteria are alive and thriving from my 60 transplant. Anyone who who would do this for a living would have arms like Popeye lol.
PS...Shipmate, glad to hear it worked and was worried about folks trying a different brand as I can't vouch others will work better or worse then TurtleWax Heavy Duty Rubbing Compound that I have tested today.

Image courtesy of Google s

 

Haha. I would love to see that. I just finished cleaning mine too. Mine was less than yours. I used corn starch on the inside and the car stuff outside.

 

Well using the block & tackle I finally got it in place although the photo taken at night does the re-finish and glass clarity no justice, better pics to follow as I get everything installed.
Semper Paratus!

 

That looks great Gunner. Now we are on a race. haha.

 

Looks great, congrats!

When you finally find a solution for long standing frustrations, it's amazing how satisfying it is.

 

You'll probubly beat me cause this is the stage I like to take my time finding the right decor. But Ill probubly get water in it anywho to get things started.

That looks great Gunner. Now we are on a race. haha.

 

That looks so great gunner! You did an awesome job with refinishing the stand and the glass looks like it just came home from the store!

 

Thanks. Yeah I do feel lazily sore and a bit relieved. Although I do feel that with a jewelers buffing wheel I could have gotten a few stubborn spots buffed out completely especially since they were coming out just would have taken an other man hour and settled. But at least now I know I have a solution and new respect for what hard water will do to glass when you leave your water live below the frame or visible and when you neglect back glass cleaning. Its not so much the hard water that does the damage but the combination of hard water and exposure to air plus neglect.
Right now I'm sort of resting for the next stage which will require allot of special steps with transplanting 60 tank bacteria.

Looks great, congrats!

When you finally find a solution for long standing frustrations, it's amazing how satisfying it is.

 

Thanks
Looking at It I can hardly believe I pushed myself through all the work and pulled it off as art fabrication is not my strong point. I just knew I couldent live with that original color and being just a techmech able to follow directions managed to get it the way I like it, personalized.

That looks so great gunner! You did an awesome job with refinishing the stand and the glass looks like it just came home from the store!

 

Beautiful tank and stand. You did a great job!!

 

Thanks..

Beautiful tank and stand. You did a great job!!

 

Hay guys about the use of that smiley, I thought he was saying oorah! Not rip! Not my meaning at all sorry lol. Actually in all honesty moving that heavy stuff around by oneself its a little of both lol.

Well using the block & tackle I finally got it in place although the photo taken at night does the re-finish and glass clarity no justice, better pics to follow as I get everything installed.
Semper Paratus!

 

I have a 20 waiting for me to get off the couch and set it up. It really needs some tender loving rubbing...lol

 

I just read this whole thread about using the turtle wax to clean the glass and was wondering if it would work on the black rI'm and hood of the tank. I just got a 10 gallon lastnite and the previous owners had let a nice thick deposit of minerals spread all around the top of the tank as well as on the filter, edging on the tank, and hood. If the turtle wax would work for that as well I would be golden. I have been doing the vinegar thing all afternoon with extremely limited results.

 

I don't think that will work there since is a not a polish surface but you can try. If not sand it and paint it. That's what I did with mine. I think the Krylon Fusion is the aquarium safe paint.(not Sure) There's a threat on that around here.

 

why do you have to use purified water?

 

less minerals in the water.