Algea on Acrylic

kmellon

kmellon

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
#1
Looking for any ideas on cleaning a healthy dose of algea off of acrylic without breaking down the tank.

As some of you know, i had to leave for a few weeks to go back to ohio. During that time, my neighbor was able to come over and feed the fish in our tanks but i certainly didn't expect them to clean the tanks. Now that I am back, i have a biocube that has a ton of algea hanging onto the acrylic. I've tried a few standard acrylic scrubber pads, but i am concerned taht i will scrubb too hard and scratch the inside.

Any ideas?​
 
cdrewferd

cdrewferd

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#2
#2
So it's on the back wall of the Biocube? Go to your LFS and get an algea scrapper with the plastic acrylic blade. That should work.
 
09bumblebee

09bumblebee

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#3
#3
They make these water proof buffers you can use. Makes a mess with all the water but entertaining to watch. Haha
 
Haulin Oates

Haulin Oates

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#4
#4
I've used the regular glass scraper on the back wall of my Biocube to scrape off coralline before... It won't hurt anything... And it's black, and plastic, not acrylic... so you really can't hurt it.
 
kmellon

kmellon

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#5
#5
Sorry, it is all over the front and sides of the tank. I wouldnt' care that much if it on the back wall. So i don't want to take any chance of scratching.
 
cdrewferd

cdrewferd

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#7
#7
Yep, just use a metal scraper and youll be fine. Just remember the front is bowed, so you'll have to go side to side to get the best performance out of your scraper.
 
kmellon

kmellon

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#9
#9
Thanks. I actually picked up a flipper from Don's group buy but the ammount of algea is pretty heavy so i didn't think about trying it. I also thought the JBJ's were acrylic. I'm looking that up to make sure. It certinaly doesn't feel as heavy as my Red Sea Max did.
 
cdrewferd

cdrewferd

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#11
#11
I'm 99% sure the JBJ's are glass as well. Shoot Khalis, jahmic, a PM as he has the JBJ.
 
jahmic

jahmic

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#12
#12
cdrewferd;184346 said:
I'm 99% sure the JBJ's are glass as well. Shoot Khalis, jahmic, a PM as he has the JBJ.
Click to expand...
No need...I lurk ;)

Yea, it's glass. Surprised me as well given the curved corners and the weight of the tank; another member actually told me a while back, and I had to check the user manual to confirm.

That being said...I find the flipper's acrylic blade, though tedious, actually works better than the glass blade for that hard algae...especially on the front glass if you run it side to side.
 
kmellon

kmellon

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#16
#16
Wow, that is a surprise. I had a Red Sea Max 34g and it was a bear to move for weight and size. The 24g JBJ even with the led top attached is extreamly light and the bend in the corners are very different between the two.

By the way, have you done anythign special to your set up? filtration mod? skimmer?

jahmic;184347 said:
No need...I lurk ;)

Yea, it's glass. Surprised me as well given the curved corners and the weight of the tank; another member actually told me a while back, and I had to check the user manual to confirm.

That being said...I find the flipper's acrylic blade, though tedious, actually works better than the glass blade for that hard algae...especially on the front glass if you run it side to side.
Click to expand...
 
jahmic

jahmic

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#17
#17
kmellon;184356 said:
Wow, that is a surprise. I had a Red Sea Max 34g and it was a bear to move for weight and size. The 24g JBJ even with the led top attached is extreamly light and the bend in the corners are very different between the two.

By the way, have you done anythign special to your set up? filtration mod? skimmer?
Click to expand...
I have the 28g model, but I think they're fairly similar aside from the single return on the 24g vs the dual returns on the 28g. I did pick up one of those "InTank" media baskets; I run floss, purigen, and a mini-fuge with some chaeto in there now. I used to run a bag of chemi-pure elite in there too, but am probably going to just hook up a gfo reactor instead. The media basket did help though...it's larger so I was able to run more media and it gets much better flow going through the media...rather than spilling off the sides and back of the stock basket. I also have an Aquamaxx HOB-1 skimmer which was one my first upgrades to the tank. The only minor change I made to the tank itself was replacing the stock return nozzles with some 90 degree elbows so that the flow is directed directly behind my rock work...I have an MP10 for circulation so redirecting the returns worked out well. Other than that...a chiller on an external mag 2 since I have the metal halide hood.

I have a build thread if you wanna check out the setup...but I think that^ summarizes everything that I've done:

http://www.marinecolorado.org/forums/showthread.php?11823-Jahmic-s-JBJ-28-first-reef-build
 
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