Old Bacteria

[Fadi]

I have some old bacteria in places on my tank especailly my lights. It's a white colored bacteria but dry, and I see no threat from it since its been there a while. I was just wondering are there any special solutions you can use to eleminate it.

 

[TammyLiz]

That's mineral buildup. As your water evaporates it leaves behind all the dissolved minerals and they build up over time, especially if you have hard water. Thank goodness it's not bacteria! That would be disgusting! It isn't alive and never was, and it isn't harming anything. But it isn't the prettiest thing. To get rid of it, I mix baking soda and vinegar to make a paste. I wet the area that I want to clean, and scrub with a new toothbrush. Rinse and repeat until it's all gone. Sometimes it is too stubborn, especially on plastic, I've found. But you should be able to get most of it off that way. Make sure you rinse it very well and let it dry before putting it back on the tank. For the top edge of the tank, you'll have to wait until you do a tear down and take everything out of it.

EDIT: Use as hard of a toothbrush as you can get, soft doesn't work very well.