# General Topics > Vivarium, Terrarium & Enclosure Discussion >  what cleaning products are safe to use on frog tanks?

## kissfan4ever

i wash my frog's tank with just water and paper towel but can see white spots all over the glass. i asumed this was ok. my dad cleaned my other tank for my new frogs with dawn dish soap and made sure it wasdry b4 the frogs moved in. is that ok to use? compared to my frog tommy ribbit's tank, their's looks brand new now.  any other product ok to use? i was thinking wipes. i bought i spongw good thing i read the back says not to use on aquariums. 

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## Gail

I just use distilled water and a micro-fiber sponge and it cleans the water spots right off.

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## MsBlueRose

I use dawn when I completely break down my tree frogs exoterra and clean it out (about once every 4 to 6 months depending on how dirty they have gotten it). I know the experts say to not use any cleaners on your frogs belongings, but the dawn has been proven environmentally safe and is used on animals directly. I do, however, make sure I rinse the tank with extremely hot water very well to ensure there is no residual dish soap left in the tank just to be safe. So long as you don't use any harsh chemicals in the tank or on their bowls or things you should be ok. I would not use anything other than dawn my self, and always make sure you rinse very well and wipe everything down and even do a second rinse both with as hot of water as you can handle. Your frogs will be healthier if you can do this at least twice a year, it ensures there is no bacteria or fungus growing in their home. Just don't ever expose your frogs to the soap, they can absorb the soap through their skin and it will not be good for them at all. Hope this helps out!  :Smile: 

Sincerely; 
MsBlueRose  :Frog Smile:

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## Carlos

I do not use any soaps to clean my enclosures or tanks.  Vinegar work good removing water spots and you can avoid them by misting with distilled water.  Micro-fiber type sponges are great for cleaning as Gail stated.  For disinfecting you can use a 10% plain house bleach (no perfume) solution or a product like Wipe Out  :Smile:  .

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## Heather

You can use a straight razor or fish tank scraper if the spots are tough mineral spots. It's best to keep frogs away from the area you are scraping. Put a paper towel on the floor of the area you are cleaning. I like to wipe the glass with distilled water after scraping. I do this for my turtle tank and before I started using distilled water for misting (only misting and glass wiping). Only use dechlorinated water or spring water for substrate and soaking or swimming water.

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## FwoGiZ

I would personally never use dish soap (any types.. including dawn) or bleach in en enclosure that has live animals. 
Frogs and ducks are way way way different.. it doesn't mean that because you can wash a duck or that it's "food" safe that you can use something on or around frogs.
Frogs are unique... some very effective meds for reptiles will kill a frog. Some completely unharmful and non-toxic products can actually be bad for frogs.

Lemon juice and razor blade works wonder if you want to clean glass stains. Distilled water, vinegar, microfibre sponge and paper towel are all very good at cleaning a frog tank too.

Also there are two types of frog habitats for captivity. Terrarium and vivarium.
Terrarium are usually kept sterile... and are pretty basics, easyly to elaborate and low cost. But they don't stimulate your frog immune system so much. Basically it's like those people who keep using Purel and anti-bacterial soap and whatnot right? They're the one who gets sick all the time and then they think it's cause they didn't sanitize properly while it's actually the opposite eh

Then you have vivariums.. they're a slice of eco system and this includes all the micro fauna, bacteria and fungus alike.. they're all making it an almost self sustaining habitat. Most of the bacteria and fungus are good. If you manage to have a good cycle going on in your tank, you pretty much don't have to ever worry about bad bacteria and bad fungus as they won't be able to take over. This enclosure is obviously more elaborate, most costy but also much more beautiful because of the live plants. You frog builds a decent immune system too in there.
I change susbtrat every 3 years.. I actually just add more and mix it with the previous!! No frog poop to clean, only glass to clean with lemon juice and plants to prune!

Just my 2¢

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## bill

> I would personally never use dish soap (any types.. including dawn) or bleach in en enclosure that has live animals. 
> Frogs and ducks are way way way different.. it doesn't mean that because you can wash a duck or that it's "food" safe that you can use something on or around frogs.
> Frogs are unique... some very effective meds for reptiles will kill a frog. Some completely unharmful and non-toxic products can actually be bad for frogs.
> 
> Lemon juice and razor blade works wonder if you want to clean glass stains. Distilled water, vinegar, microfibre sponge and paper towel are all very good at cleaning a frog tank too.
> 
> Also there are two types of frog habitats for captivity. Terrarium and vivarium.
> Terrarium are usually kept sterile... and are pretty basics, easyly to elaborate and low cost. But they don't stimulate your frog immune system so much. Basically it's like those people who keep using Purel and anti-bacterial soap and whatnot right? They're the one who gets sick all the time and then they think it's cause they didn't sanitize properly while it's actually the opposite eh
> 
> ...


First off, as far as the dawn goes, I believe Amy said she only does that when completely breaking down a tank, not with live animals in it. 

As far as terrariums/vivariums go, by definition, a terrarium is an enclosure designed to house live plants, a vivarium is an enclosure designed to house live plants with the explicit purpose of housing animals. And a paludarium is a terrarium or vivarium with a terrestrial section and an aquatic section large enough to house some sort of animal. 

As far as cleaning an empty tank, provided you rinse the tank out thoroughly, the cleaner you use really is not going to make much difference due to glass being non porous. As long as you rinse any residues from the glass, it will be fine. Cleaning an operational tanks is more challenging. Distilled water should be used if you have hard water. A razor or microfiber sponge will help getting hard spots off of the glass. Lemon juice i normally recommend against, especially if you have a water feature because the citric acid from the lemons will change your water chemistry, lowering the ph. Some plants will have no issues with slightly acidic condtions. In fact, most tropicals prefer it, but the combination of citric acid as well as peat moss that is prevalent in ABG mix, over time can create problems. If using lemon juice, think about how much you would think you should use, then cut it in half. 


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

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## MsBlueRose

> First off, as far as the dawn goes, I believe Amy said she only does that when completely breaking down a tank, not with live animals in it.


Yes, Bill. I did in fact say with out the animals in it. I would never use any kind of chemical around my frogs. Thanks so much for following up on that post. I have used razors to clean stuck on stuff from the glass, too. I did not even think about that at the time. Thanks for the other helpful tips also!  :Smile:  


Sincerely;
MsBlueRose  :Frog Smile:

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## Evan Spies

> I do not use any soaps to clean my enclosures or tanks.  Vinegar work good removing water spots and you can avoid them by misting with distilled water.  Micro-fiber type sponges are great for cleaning as Gail stated.  For disinfecting you can use a 10% plain house bleach (no perfume) solution or a product like Wipe Out  .


I use a 10% bleach every time!!! it does not hurt the frogs if carefully rinsed with water!!! :Big Grin:

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## limnologist

I own a lot of aquariums and have to deal with the white spots (mineral deposits) all the time. The best stuff to use, says I haha, is white, distilled vinegar and hot water.

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## MsBlueRose

How does the vinegar work? I suppose it probably gets into the calcium and mineral deposits and breaks them down...? I am just curious. I don't have the problem my self because I only use spring water, but when I buy used aquariums, I do run in to the problem and if this really works as well as you say, it will save me time with the razor blade and save my back and fingers too, lol. Thanks so much for the advice!  :Smile:

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## bill

Vinegar=acid  :Smile: 


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

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## MsBlueRose

True, I forgot that vinegar was an acid base, lol. No wonder it works!  :Big Grin:

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