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aquarium stains

PostPosted: Sun Mar 22, 2015 10:43 pm
by datturtlelover0115
Hello!
We have all experienced pesky stains of dried water that leave a white mark on the aquarium.
I've searched the internet for ways to remove the stain and came across solutions such as the use of vinegar. My only concern is that my turtles wouldn't like vinegar in their water, and I don't want to risk vinegar dripping in.
However, I don't know enough about the anatomy of a turtle to know if the vinegar would bother them. If it will, what would be a good way to remove the aquarium stains, if vinegar won't be a problem, then all is good.
Please note that I want to remove the stains with the turtles still inside the aquarium, perhaps I could take then out when I do the cleaning, but taking out the water would be a bigger inconvenience then just leaving the aquarium stains.
Thank you.

Re: aquarium stains

PostPosted: Sun Mar 22, 2015 11:57 pm
by ljapa
Maybe.

Vinegar is a weak acid. It has the potential to lower the ph of your water, which could be irratiting. Of course, if you have water stains, you likely have hard water, which will buffer ph swings, meaning it likely won't have much affect in the ph.

If it were me, I would remove the turtle, though, because the vinegar smell will irritate the mucous membranes. Think about what it's like to take a whiff of concentrated vinegar. I'd do it during a water change to minimize the vinegar that got in the water and because you'd be diluting any that did when you add more.

Re: aquarium stains

PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2015 8:45 pm
by datturtlelover0115
Thanks! I'll try that.