Water Spots

[SDRANGER619]

I have a 55Gal (open top) tank. I haven't got a hood for it yet so I'm constantly topping it off with water. There are times when the water level gets low. As soon as I can I either do my general maintenance or just top off the tank.

Now I have these nasty white stains on the glass. I tried scrubbing pad, my nail and it doesn't come off. Any idea what I can use? I don't want to kill my fish and I don't have another tank they can move into while I clean.

Even my tank's heater has the water deposits, and its submerged! (going to replace it)

Anyone got anything for me?

[sumthin fishy]

A razorblade will work. Or you could use a cloth with a paste made from a small ammount of table salt on a rag and scrub it. Try not to get the salt in the water. but if a little gets in it wont hurt. Especially if you do a waterchange shortly after.

[SDRANGER619]

Thanks for the tip. I shall try this weekend.

Any idea why my heater has the white stuff too? It's submerged and it has all this rough (feeling) white stuff. I'm going to replace it but it just looks weird as heck!

[sumthin fishy]

No problemo.

That confused me. Is it all the way down the heater? or just near the top where it sticks out when the water is low?

[SDRANGER619]

No problemo.

That confused me. Is it all the way down the heater? or just near the top where it sticks out when the water is low?it's super weird. It starts on the bottom of the heater and goes up 3/4 of the way to the top...it doesn't see any open air, always under water. I put my hand down there and it feels all rough, kinda like barnicle looking if know what I mean.

[sumthin fishy]

Got me there. You could take it out and try soaking it in vinegar, see if that helps any, but It will probably come back, Ive never heard of that happening

[ceatwood]

I ahve that happening on my heaters that I use to warm up the water before water changes. If it's hard and rough it's just mieral deposits I'll wager. Why this happens when it's submerged is a puzzlement to me, seems like the minerals woudl stay dissolved and not crystalize while under water. Maybe there is some type of attraction becasue of teh electrical current? I do belive that the dissolved minerals are all ions in the tank, but it still seems a bit farfetched.

[patoloco]

When water is exposed to heat it will slowly evaporate, even if it's below the surface. Maybe when it evaporates leave the residue and sice it's "hot" it dries pretty quickly.

The electric hypothesis (¿?) might also work, but I'd go for the heat+evaporation.

[rrkss]

Unless the water is at its boiling temperature, you won't see evaporation except from the surface. My speculation has to do with you topping off the tank constantly. The minerals stay in the water even when it evaporates. Everytime you top off the tank, you add more minerals increasing hardness and TDS of the tank. Eventually the Calcium Ions will become saturated and come out of solution coating your heater. As they crystalize, they attract more and ions to crystalize. Your water is probably already saturated from all the topping off.

[Star_Rider]

I think you have hit the nail on the head.

the minerals are disolved minerals..but they can and will precipitate and form as a solid when the concentration gets high enough.
topping off the tank adds more of the dissolved minerals to the tank..I'm not saying that topping off is bad..but if you do water changes you can help reduce the concentration of minerals because you are removing water wtih higher concentrations and adding fresh water to the tanks that have the normal level.

in essence tho..there are few sources of water with no dissloved minerals in them.

for cleaning you can try vinegar or another acidic source..but for the most part it will require removing the item from the tank ..

good luck

[SDRANGER619]

Awesome info, thanks guys!

[joephys]

One possibility is that the heater is causing a current in the tank. It is possible that It is causing the ions to collect on the heater. This probably isn't what is happening, just a possibility.