# Limescale removal?



## Cat&Dean (Jun 21, 2009)

Hi guys!

I have a whites tree frog vivarium with lots of watermarking and limescale from spraying which doesnt look very nice at all. Can any one tell me how to remove it with out harming the frogs?

Many thanks

Catherine : victory:


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## Wolfenrook (Jul 2, 2010)

Lemon juice and a washing up scouring sponge thingy. 

Then rinse thoroughly.

Ade


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## Cat&Dean (Jun 21, 2009)

Ahh thank you very much. Does it matter if the lemon juice goes into the substrate?


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## Wolfenrook (Jul 2, 2010)

Not really no, it wont hurt the phibs, just make the substrate pH a bit lower for a short time. That's the good thing about lemon juice, unless you apply it directly it wont hurt your animals at all.

Ade


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## ozyshane (Dec 17, 2008)

when you manage to clean the limescale off, you could try spraying with RO (reverse osmosis) water. it can be bought in 10 litre+ quantities from aquatic shops such as maidenhead aquatic for a few quid. All the impurities have been filtered out leaving you with nice limescale free glass.


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## Wolfenrook (Jul 2, 2010)

There's a big debatte about RO in phib tanks at the mo, hence I didn't mention it. I personally mist with RO (with added BSP drops and in my downstairs vivs a couple of drops of Zocal-D to every 13 litres of RO as well). However you should never use it wehre it forms pools of standing water for long perdiods of time (eg. water features, ponds etc) as it can cause the animals to take in excess water, leading to kidney problems, unless you replace some of the salts that the RO process removes first.

The other problem with the constant use of RO for misting is that it doesn't have any calcium or other plant nutrients in it, required by the plants in planted vivs. Which means that if you mist with RO once a month you should mist the viv with either HMA/bottled/dechlorinated tap water or add a trace nutrient mix safe for your phibs to a single misting (applied when the normal 1 has already taken place, so that plants are already a bit damp). Otherwise you can end up with nutrient defficiencies (calcium for example is used by plants to utilise nitrates, so without a bit there you end up with signs of nitrogen defficiency. That's just 1 of the trace nutrients found in water).

Ade


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## leonh (Nov 19, 2008)

hi catherine you could also use a glass scraper,not the ones that hold stanley knife blades but the rectangular razor blade type as these work so well you would be suprised,as ade said lemon juice is very good but be carefull with scourer pads as these can scrath glass quickly over time: victory:


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## Wolfenrook (Jul 2, 2010)

Scourer pads? Nooooo. None stick washing up sponges. They don't scratch at all, and are what many retail fish rooms use to clean off algae.

A razor blad scraper however WILL scratch glass. You can however buy plastic bladed ones that don't scratch. If soaking with lemon juice wont fetch the lime off, then it's often best left as it may have etched the glass already. You can use vinegar as well, but that needs rinsing off much more thoroughly as it's stronger than lemon juice.

Ade


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## fardilis (Mar 22, 2011)

hiya
tbh a wet kitchin roll will do ok

i've found that a moist micro-fibre towel will get rid of finger stains and limescale aswell as alot of stains on glass:2thumb:


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Wolfenrook said:


> Scourer pads? Nooooo.* None stick washing up sponges. They don't scratch at all, and are what many retail fish rooms use to clean off algae.*
> 
> A razor blad scraper however WILL scratch glass. You can however buy plastic bladed ones that don't scratch. If soaking with lemon juice wont fetch the lime off, then it's often best left as it may have etched the glass already. You can use vinegar as well, but that needs rinsing off much more thoroughly as it's stronger than lemon juice.
> 
> Ade


I use those in my clawed frog and FBT tanks- very effective.


The plastic scrapers are pants, though!:Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## Wolfenrook (Jul 2, 2010)

The Algarde ones are aye. The Kent ones are quite good though, just hard to track down.

I use a JBL blankie on my big aquarium, but they WILL scratch if used on a viv too often.

Ade


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