Calcium/lime build up....HELP!!!! Its taking over my tank.

[Water]

Hello,I have an 10 gallon fishtank with nothing alive in it as of yet but Im having major issue's with lime build up and I mean major,because its everywhere and no matter how many times I get rid of it,the next day it comes right back.

I know I can eliminate it totally but is there some way to lessen it,by adding store brought water?adding some type of chemical to the water to soften it?.I live in Newyork and the water here is hard.


thanks for the help of any suggestions....

 

[Thyra]

I am not sure I understand and I am pretty sure I don't know the answer to your problem, but how does calcium or lime deposits built up in a day? I always thought it was the residue after the water evaporates and therefore is days before you notice it - even weeks. I have water with a pH over 8.2 and there is white scales on the hood around the filter, etc. You say you know how you can eliminate it totally - how would you do that? I understand there is something called R/O water which others can tell you about - I can't- but I do know it has no minerals in it and you need some kind of system to make it that is rather expensive.

 

[exhumed07]

To my knowledge calcium does not build upbin that short of amount of time. i have well water that is very hard but i have not noticed anything like that before. and i think he ment he knows he can't remove it all.

 

[Thyra]

Ah, you're right - what a difference a few letter make! lol

 

[Water]

Im wondering that myself,It's like a chalky substance thats hard and i googled it and thats how I came up with calcium/lime thing,maybe I am as to what it exactly is but I do know it comes back fast.
I thought it had something to do with my water....maybe im wrong.....
I scrape it off and its back again....mostly on the outside of the tank and filter.

please can someone help answer me and not 'lol'

 

[exhumed07]

pictures would help for an accurate idea of what it is, it's a good idea to always post pics when trying to identify problems such as this

 

[Thyra]

All I can think of to ask is how warm is your water? Is it evaporating rapidly on the surfaces it show up on? In my dishwasher the glasses will get some residue if the bottoms are concave after the drying cycle. If things are wet you usually don't notice the residue.

 

[Water]

Heres a picture

 

[Thyra]

Good Gosh! Any chance you are still in school and could take it to the chemistry teacher? To me it looks like a crystal that grows unlike the residue calcium leaves when the water evaporates. Are you using a water softener or any additives in your tap water? It also looks a lot like a the corrosion on battery posts.

 

[exhumed07]

It really looks like salt to me. that's the only thing I've seen that looks remotely like that

 

[Water]

No Im not using any water softener and lol! im sure its not bettery corrosion either.

It's not that hard to get off,but its dry chalky substance that appears on the outside of the top of the tank and around the filter......it might be salt.

I live in NY and U use regular tap water for a ten gallon tank.Nothing in my tank now but if I can't figure out how to get rid of the substance or lessen it,i just might not even bother.

 

[exhumed07]

one thing u can do since it's just a 10 gallon tank and wouldn't cost much is go to a store and buy the one gallon jugs of filtered water or your lfs should have ro water. if your lfs has ro water you can go to a farm surplus store and buy 5-10 gallon soft plastic jugs and take those to your lfs that way u are not carrying around a bunch of one gallon jugs. and the soft plastic jugs are colapsable so they will not take up much room in a closet or under the bed.

 

[Thyra]

I know its not battery acid, but the point was it grows like a salt which is what battery acid is among a host of other things. Is the frame on your tanik metal? Are you on city water or in an apartment?

 

[Water]

Thanks guys....I was thinking about just buying water and adding it to the tank,which is probably something I'll try.

Thyra-No the frame on my tank is plastic and yes Im on city water....

 

[FroggyFox]

Wow that is pretty extreme. It definitely looks like "salt creep" that happens when you're running a saltwater tank. How fast does it accumulate (sorry if you already answered that)?

I'd tend to think just wiping it off (hot water and elbow grease) and staying on top of it shouldn't be too difficult. If that is just coming from your tap water, there's something funky. Do you add anything else to your water, like what dechlorinator do you use and how much of it do you add? If this wasn't something specific to your tank, then you'd have the same thing on like all of your faucets/sinks/showerheads etc.

I too have hard water and am familiar with the white stuff, but that's pretty extreme unless you've just let it accumulate for a long period of time. I know where I don't clean all the time and it gets wet a lot (Like on the back of my tanks around where water splashes it definitely starts getting crusties.

The problem with using filtered water or RO water is that it drastically changes the hardness and possibly pH of your water, and fish do not adjust to drastic changes like that. If they're doing well and the worst part is this white stuff, I would not risk switching to using another source of water.

 

[exhumed07]

one thing to help with the hardness of the ro water is with decorations such as rocks. i use limestone and it ups the hardness alot.

 

[Thyra]

Is the build up just on your aquarium or is around other faucets or places where there is water? If it is I would contact the water company and find out everything they are adding to your water - if it is that hard, they may be adding some type of salt. If it is just your tank, then I would probably still contact the water company, and then check what might be happening between the water and any additives you are putting in your tank water.