How do you scrape calcareous algae

[CoryDude]

When I was a noob many years ago, I thought having pink corraline everywhere was the best thing possible. But, now I just wish it would cover the rocks and stay off the glass.

How do y'all clean it off the sides of your tank? I was looking at the Algae Free magnets, but wasn't sure if they were worth the investment. Looking for some ideas or product pitches, because I my wife is getting pretty tired of me using her spatulas to do the job.

[justahobby]

Rubber scrapers are the best I've found. Why not buy her new spatulas and commandeer the old ones?

[Big_Pun]

I use razor blades and just toss em after

[allan]

lol, you'd take her spatulas? Man, that's suicide here in my house. :)

I use the metal scrape thing. And a whole lot of elbow grease.

[Europhyllia]

I use Easy Blade and it's the best thing I found and yes, coralline sucks and I hate it and I wouldn't care if my rocks stayed white if it meant I wouldn't have to scrape the glass.
You can glue the easy blade to an old mag float but you can't leave it in the tank. I just do it manually.

[jroescher]

EZ Blade! Like Karin said, don't leave it in the tank. I rinse mine with RO water and the blades seem to last forever.

[hobogato]

easy blade

x3

[FireWater]

I didn't like the easy blade because I got too Allan with it and wound up scraping off silicone in the corners.

I use a nylon brush around the silicone and one of the long scrapers for other areas. I also use my regular magnet more often in the areas that have had coraline build up to help discourage it from getting a foot hold back.

[edshas2]

Where do you get an easy blade from?

[justahobby]

We did a group order for EZ blades a couple years ago. Not sure where they came from. I loved mine, but have heard a couple people say it scratched their glass (which is why I recommended rubber). I can't say if it scratched my tank or not because my 58g was already covered in scratches.

[Europhyllia]

I would think only if rust develops or if something is stuck to it would it be likely to scratch the glass.
I can't imagine what a pain it would be with a plastic scraper thingy!

[justahobby]

Rubber not plastic ;-) I have a couple scratches from using a plastic scraper on the soft glass bc14. And yes, as far as ease of use, nothing is even in the same class as the ez blade! The blades are very thin and even though they are braced fairly well I could see how digging into some coraline would cost enough flex for it to catch the glass.

[Big_Pun]

http://www.algaefree.com/easy_blade.html i need to find the easy blade junior

[CoryDude]

Easy blade it is. I've used a floor scraper blade before, but like John mentioned, I was too chicken to use it near the siliconed corners. Thanks everyone!