Hard water spots?

[Foxy]

To the other peeps out there that have hard water - how the heck do you safely get rid of the hard water spots inside the tank (from misting it down to keep the humidity up)? Is there a special cleaner that you use? I know I can't use freaking lime-away in there, but just a wet rag doesn't do crap either. It's just a cosmetic thing but it really bugs me that the tanks look so grimey when they're "clean" - I want to be able to clearly see my pretty sneks! What do??

[BPGator]

I use RO (reverse osmosis) water for misting cages. Prevents spots from forming.


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[Foxy]

I use RO (reverse osmosis) water for misting cages. Prevents spots from forming.


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Oh? How do I get RO water, I've never heard of that?

[SquirmyPug]

When you have the snake out to clean the whole cage you could use lime away. Just be sure to clean it out well. Or you can try vinegar, just put some on a rag or paper towel and let it sit on the spots for a little while then wipe away.

A razor blade can help remove large build up before doing that so it works faster if you have thicker water spots.

After you get it clean, try wiping most of the water off the glass after spraying to prevent more spots. You can also spray with distilled water to prevent spots, just don't fill the water bowl with it.

[BPGator]

Oh? How do I get RO water, I've never heard of that?

From the grocery store where all the jugs of water are. There’s typically spring water, distilled water and RO water. It’s like $1/gallon.


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[Foxy]

Or you can try vinegar, just put some on a rag or paper towel and let it sit on the spots for a little while then wipe away.

A razor blade can help remove large build up before doing that so it works faster if you have thicker water spots.

Do you use straight vinegar? Sounds safer than lime-away if that'll work!

[Foxy]

From the grocery store where all the jugs of water are. There’s typically spring water, distilled water and RO water. It’s like $1/gallon.


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Thank you so much, I'll look for it today when I go grocery shopping then!

[SquirmyPug]

Do you use straight vinegar? Sounds safer than lime-away if that'll work!

Yes. It's not the fastest way to do it but it can work. I would lay the tank on its side and put a paper towel on the spots then just pour vinegar on so that it's wet and let it sit for a while. If it needs to stay on a long time you can put plastic wrap over the towel to keep it from evaporating as much.

If you have to do it with the tank in its normal position (spots on a vertical surface) you could try holding the towel in place with magnets. Just be careful, don't want to break the glass with magnets.

[AbsoluteApril]

Do you use straight vinegar? Sounds safer than lime-away if that'll work!

I have hard water here so I usually use distilled bottled water for misting. I do get hard water staining build up in my stainless steel waterbowls so I soak them (5-10 min) 50% vinegar and 50% water. I would think this would work for removing spots on glass as well (spray with 50/50 solution or hold a damp 50/50 rag on the spots for a bit). 50/50 vinegar is also good for cleaning urate/fecal stains in cages, I usually follow up with another cleaner to quickly remove the vinegar smell.

[postminpat]

Windex should remove it well enough. Just be sure the enclosure is completely empty and you rinse it well and let it dry. Maybe use a distilled water/vinnegar solution after as well and rinse that out. I have hard spots on mine from using bottled spring water and got most of them off with just dish soap and water with thourough rinsing afterwards but still have trace amounts of the spots. I don't care too much so I just left it. The enclosure looks fine enough for me but if it's bothering you enough that's what i'd recommend.