Magnetic Aquarium Glass Cleaner

Wipe algae off the inside of the glass without wet sleeves or a bucket — clean the tank from the outside.

Cleaning algae film off the inside of your tank usually means rolling up a sleeve and reaching elbow-deep into the water — every week. This magnetic cleaner does the job from the outside: one half sits inside the tank against the glass, the other stays in your hand outside, and the magnets hold them together so you steer the inner scrubber around by moving the outer handle. The cleaning pad wipes off the soft green film that builds up on the glass, and because it comes apart when you lift it, the inner half floats to the surface instead of dropping into your substrate. Pick the size that matches your glass thickness and you can keep the viewing panes clear without getting wet.

Why Aquascapers Choose This Cleaner

• 🖐️ Clean without getting wet — the whole point: wipe the inside glass from outside the tank, so no more soaking your arm every week.
• 🧲 Grip scaled to your glass — three sizes hold through different glass thicknesses (up to 8 mm, 12 mm, or 18 mm), so the magnet is strong enough for your tank without being overkill.
• 🛟 Floating inner half — if the two halves separate when you lift over the rim, the inner scrubber floats up instead of sinking into the substrate, which is what keeps grit off the pad.
• 🌿 Glides in tight spots — the shape is made to move smoothly along the glass and into corners rather than catching.
• ✋ Non-slip outer handle — the contoured grip stays put in your hand so you keep control of the inner half.
• 🐟 Quick weekly upkeep — takes the friction out of routine glass cleaning, so you actually do it often enough to stay ahead of algae.

⚠️ "Scratch-free" depends entirely on you — this is not a hands-off guarantee. A magnetic cleaner scratches glass when a grain of sand or grit gets trapped under the pad and you drag it across the panel. The felt pad itself is soft, but grit is not. Before every use, check the pad is clean, and never run the cleaner down into the substrate line — that's where it picks up sand. Lift it away from the glass near the bottom rather than dragging it through the gravel.

⚠️ Glass tanks only — this will permanently ruin acrylic. These units include a hard scraper edge at the top for stubborn spots, and a scraper (or any trapped grit) gouges acrylic instantly and permanently. If you have an acrylic or plastic tank, do not use the blade at all, and be extremely cautious with the pad. This tool is designed for glass.

💡 Pro tip: use the blade sparingly, and only on glass. The scraper edge is for hard, crusty spots the pad won't shift — green spot algae (GSA) or coralline. Keep it flat against the glass, use light pressure, and don't tilt it into a gouging angle. For everyday soft green film, the pad alone is safer and does the job. If GSA keeps coming back fast, that's often a low-phosphate signal worth checking, not just a cleaning problem.

💡 Pro tip: match the size to your glass, not just your tank length. The deciding spec is glass thickness, not how big the tank looks. If you undersize it, the magnet is too weak to hold through your glass and the inner half drops off; oversize and it snaps together hard enough to trap grit or pinch fingers. Measure your glass (or check your tank's spec) and buy to the thickness rating.

Choose Your Size

All three are 4 cm / 1.57" wide. Glass thickness is the spec that matters — if in doubt between two sizes, match the thickness rating to your glass rather than the tank length.

Specifications

What's in the Box

• 1 × magnetic glass cleaner (inner + outer halves, in your selected size)

One two-part cleaner. Replacement pads are not included, and no cleaning solution is needed — this is a mechanical scrubber, not a chemical cleaner.

Pairs Well With

• A separate algae scraper / blade scraper — a handheld scraper reaches the spots a magnet can't, like right into the silicone corners.
• Gravel vacuum / siphon — pair glass cleaning with your water change so the wiped-off algae gets removed from the system.
• Aquascaping tweezers & scissors — round out a maintenance kit for planted-tank upkeep.
• Nerite snails / otocinclus — natural glass grazers that slow the algae film between cleanings.

Your Top 5 Questions — Answered

1. Which size do I need?

= Match it to your glass thickness, which is the spec that actually determines whether the magnet holds. Up to 8 mm glass → the small (10 cm); up to 12 mm → the medium (12 cm); up to 18 mm → the large (14.5 cm). The tank-length figures (30–50 / 50–100 / 80–180 cm) are a rough guide because bigger tanks tend to have thicker glass, but if you know your glass thickness, go by that.

2. Is it really scratch-free?

= The pad is soft, but no magnetic cleaner is truly scratch-proof — scratches happen when grit gets trapped under the pad and dragged across the glass. Keep the pad clean, don't run it down into the sand or gravel, and lift it away from the glass before you reach the substrate. Do that and it won't scratch. It also includes a hard scraper edge, which absolutely can scratch if misused, so use that part carefully and only on glass.

3. Will it work on my acrylic tank?

= No — use it on glass only. The scraper edge will permanently gouge acrylic, and even trapped grit under the pad scratches soft acrylic easily. If your tank is acrylic or plastic, this isn't the right tool.

4. What's the floating design for?

= When you lift the cleaner over the tank rim or the two halves pull apart, the inner scrubber floats to the surface instead of sinking into the substrate. That matters because a scrubber that drops into the gravel picks up grit — which is exactly what causes scratches. Floating keeps the pad clean and easy to retrieve.

5. Does it clean thick, crusty algae or just the film?

= The pad handles the soft green film that coats the glass. For hard, crusty spots like green spot algae, use the scraper edge at the top — carefully, flat against glass. If you're fighting heavy algae constantly, it's worth looking at the underlying cause (light duration, nutrients) rather than relying on scrubbing alone.

Ships within 20–25 business days.