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Algae can be removed from the panes with aquarium cotton, old filter sponges and blade cleaners. Cleaning sponges (“Glitzi”, “Vileda”), telephone cards, set squares, ice scrapers, plastic spatulas and plastic scourers are also used successfully for this purpose.
A handful of aquarium cotton adapts well to the pane, even in corners, and does not damage the silicone.
With the usual magnet cleaners, it can easily happen that the panes are scratched by a trapped grain of sand. You don’t even have to come into contact with the ground. Small dust particles float in the aquarium, which can get caught on the algae on the panes.
The so-called floating magnets (e.g. from Zajac, MAG-FLOAT) cannot sink to the ground due to their buoyancy, which reduces the risk of the finest stones from the substrate adhering to the cleaning material.
With magnetic cleaners, aquarium cotton, sponges and similar materials, however, grains are always transported in the medium – and rubbed into the pane by the wiping movements. Algae growth is often too stubborn for household sponges, algae magnets, etc.
Blade cleaners can also scratch the panes. However, at an angle of attack of 30 degrees, steel blades have such a small contact surface with the glass that there can be no granules between the cutting edge and the glass. However, you should be careful near the glued joints so as not to damage them during cleaning.
Ice scrapers can be dangerous for the pane glass if the finest grains of sand are picked up by the substrate and the panes are «wiped» with it. Therefore, always wipe with ice scrapers from top to bottom and stop after each wipe!
Scrapers are suitable for large aquariums, e.g. B. from Amtra, as they are similarly used by window cleaners. Due to the width of around 15 centimeters, the contact pressure is low. Due to the blade width, the blades cannot be canted.