White stuff on aquarium glass     9/19/14 Hello, <Rich> I am having a constant problem with a build up of white stuff on my aquarium glass. It wipes off easily (more easily than the green algae on my glass) and does not appear to be any high hiking critter that I know off. Power heads do not blow it off. My tanks is a 75gal FOLWR and I'm running an aqua c remora and a denitrator. I have a refugium with lettuce leaf and Chaeto. I am dosing calcium and ph buffer to get my ro/di water to the correct ph. Ph is currently 8.1. I have Phosban and activated charcoal in media bags. <I'd remove this... try Lanthanum on a punctuated basis if you have a transient HPO4 issue> A few thoughts I had are that it might be some kind of precipitate or particles in the water are clinging to the algae on my glass. In tends to build up pretty fast and starts to come back about 3 days after cleaning. Thanks for your help. Sincerely, Richard Hunt <Could be biological or not... I'd scoop out some, concentrate it if necessary and look under a scope... I'd also try not using one product, mode to see if this eliminates the issue... And the usual GAC and Polyfilter. Bob Fenner>

White film on glass / dusty water         3/12/14
Hi Wet web media
<Robert>
For the past month or so, I’ve been cleaning my aquarium glass daily due to a pale whitish film that keeps appearing.
<These/this can be annoying for sure>
I tested for nitrates and phosphates and both came up as undetectable, which is fluent with previous tests. Also; I don’t have any nuisance algae on the glass or the rocks / substrate & have a very small bio load.
<Other life likely. MANY microscopic organisms in natural and captive settings that make such films>
The tank is a 300 gallon reef ( large pieces of live rock ) and an 80 gallon sump which houses the skimmer / filtration / UV and two bio pellet reactors. I went for two small reactors because I wasn’t able to get the larger reactors in Thailand.
<Mmm, I'd try pulling the reactors... Are you sure your system is carbon deficient?>
Do you think the film is being caused by the bio pellets?
<Could well be positively correlated>
 I also have been suffering from dusty water for what seems an eternity - could they both be linked?
<Yes>
Thanks
Robert
<Welcome. Bob Fenner>

Acrylic cleaning   3/10/14
<Put the words "cleaning acrylic" in the WWM search tool... on every page. B>
The exterior acrylic of my aquarium, which is pretty new, has a greasy film on it and I don't know how to get it off.  Originally, I used just RO/DI
water and an Ecoxotic chamois to clean the acrylic, but to cut down on static buildup and to get a better clean, I started to use Drs. Foster and
Smith acrylic and glass cleaner.  I'm not sure if this film may be the layer left behind by the cleaner to deter static, or if it was there before
I started to use the cleaner.   It makes the aquarium look realllly smudgy and really adds to the glare on the tank.  Any suggestions?
-Zack

Glass tank care, algae scrapers   9/2/13
Hello crew,
I saved, and planned, and devoted countless ours to the set up of my 265 gallon glass tank. I thought buying the Mag Float was the answer to keeping the glass looking pristine every day. Well, it only took a tiny grain of sand (I was being so careful!!!) and I put scratches in a section of it!
Oh, the devastation is without words. I decided to go back to the way I clean my 50 gallon by using the scraper. Somehow the blade must have gotten bent slightly and I noticed it scratching my 50 gallon. I can't believe after all these years of tank maintenance I'm having so much trouble now. I am now TERRIFIED to clean the glass for fear of scratching it again. Now that the sides look awful from not being cleaned, I must find a way. Is there any devise or technique you would recommend to clean glass with no risk of scratches? I've read so much, but in those readings the Mag Float was praised. Please help me. This is making me crazy.
-Alyssa
<Am a big fan of all-plastic scrapers; used by hand... or old "credit cards"... Bob Fenner>