There is one thing true about every healthy aquarium…it’s going to have a bit of algae. In some aquariums there are sufficient algae eaters to be rid of every last bit of it but that’s not true for most, and for those many prefer to keep the excess algae scraped off the sides and decorations to make it presentable.

First, if there is way too much extra algae it can clog the filters and foul up the water, so if you have a massive algae bloom you’ll want to test your water because often there’s too many nitrates in the water (hint: if you haven’t been doing your regular partial water changes it’ll be too high. If you have been doing your water changes and it’s still too high, do more water changes).

Aside from excessive algae problems, there is still that hassle of bits of algae that will do nothing more harmful than make your aquarium a little less attractive. For these, the easiest solution is to manually scrape the algae off.

My own tool of choice is a scraper sponge on a handle with a flexible plastic blade on the flip side, but this doesn’t always work in close quarters. In my last job we worked with a merchant system which has an opening of about a foot to work with the fish so there’s just no room to maneuver something with a handle. That’s where I first got acquainted with these scrubber pads.

While I don’t much like the feel of the pads (they rough up the hands pretty good with prolonged use, and I had 26 aquariums a week to keep looking spotless) they are quite effective and don’t scratch the glass. Please note that you do not want to use any normal sponge or scraper pad for your aquarium; some will scratch glass and acrylic, some have cleaners added into them, and some are manufactured in the same vicinity as nasty cleaners so make sure you’re buying a scraper especially for aquariums.

It takes about two weeks for one of these scrubbers to break down…that is, to go from the very rigid pad it starts out as to a floppy and almost smooth pad. Mind you, that’s two weeks of daily vigorous cleaning on 26 tanks, so put that on a household scale and it’ll last considerably longer.

Now that I work for myself I still keep a couple of these scrubber pads on hand in case I have a customer whose tank is in too tight a space for my preferred tool. Overall this is a very effective scrubber pad and has never scraped the glass or acrylic (though regular plastic containers will scratch, acrylic has to be handled carefully) even though it does scour the hands a bit too. I buy these pads for about $2.00 each and they’re pretty easy to find in pet stores or large discount stores.

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