Hey All,
I just stumbled upon an old aquarium that I'd like to turn into a begonia house. The problem is that it was covered in layer after layer of hard water deposits that were so thick that I doubt a hammer and chisel would have touched it. I was finally able to get the worst of it off but I had to use every cleaner in the house to get there. Now I'm concerend how to get those chemical residues off the surface so as not to contaminate the plants. Does anybody have any ideas? I'm not really sure how pristine the container has to be to make the environment safe for the plants and I hate to fail before I even start.
Thanks so much,
La
(PS I finally got a couple of cain leafs to take root. Yippeeeeeee!)
This message was edited Dec 31, 2007 7:13 AM
Cleaning an Aquarium
Oh... I have one of these I need to do this.. I would try Goo Be Gone, it should work fine and take it off easy. ..
Now to find my old tank. When do you do for the top - do you leave it open or cover it? What about light?
Mitch....mine are under lights and I cover them with saran wrap to keep in the moisture. I use regular fluorescents, 1 warm and 1 cool.
Very cool... love the idea and cannot wait to see them working.
Mitch I finally got the worst of it off. It will never be pristine as it was just too heavily caked with mineral deposits when I started the cleaning. It still has a bit of a haze on it, but I think it will serve my purpose just fine. It's only been a couple of days and the plants seem to have perked up a little already. I'm using a regular aquarium light which covers the top completely. I'll let you know how it works and please let us know how yours does too!
Good luck!
La
Thank you - I will!
This year for my larger begonias I have been using the big plastic tubs, clear ones, and also covered with saran wrap. It's been working great. Also works good for propagating.
Can you post an immage? How do you water with that? Or do you not have to?
Mitch,
You can use about anything for propagation of begonias - plastic food containers are great. Aluminum pans with clear lids make great starters for leaves and small canes. The garment bags you get from dry cleaners can be used for taller plants (with stakes) or used to enclose trays (if you don't have a clear lid).
Plastic cups used as a small pot and a taller cup as a clear lid are good for single plants. You can buy 100's of these for not a lot of money.
Here are some plastic lids (cake and salad) over some of my begonias.
Did you try baking soda and vinegar? Make a paste of the baking soda, swish the vinegar around in there. Then rinse well. That should clear off the haze.
Very very cool - the image there really helps. Thank you Mitch
I just water the plants in the tub, leave the saran wrap off a day or two to let some of the excess water evaporate, and then cover back up. Only need to do this about once a month. Also, this year I have discovered that the large foil roaster pans and lasagna pans work terrific for propagating. They come with clear lids and only cost about $2.50 for two of them at walmart. I am also using them as seed flats this year.
If you go to Sam's Club you can buy 15 large aluminum pans (lasagna sized or bigger) for around $10 but no lids. I use these as drip trays (I fill most of these with pebbles to keep pots out of water) and also for starting cuttings as well and fill with sand or other media (Perlite, Nature's Helper, gravel, or soil mix to see what works). The hi-top humidity domes don't fit snug on these but do work better than nothing.
La, Lime Away will clean up your tank quite well. After that, just wash with a dish detergent and rinse well.
Tussee