Best Aquarium Glass Cleaning Scraper – Flipper Algae Magnet Review

Are you tired of dealing with stubborn algae on the glass or acrylic walls of your tank?

If you are anything like me, you can’t stand the look of algae on your aquarium glass. It can be very frustrating and difficult to keep the walls of your tank clean.

In this article, I will review one of my most recent purchases which I believe is the best aquarium magnet cleaner on the market today.

The Flipper algae magnet.

This thing is simply awesome!

I will cover the following:

  • Different types of Flipper Magnets
  • Features and benefits
  • How they work and clean your aquarium
  • How to properly use the Flipper
  • Pros and cons
  • Where to buy the Flipper and the replacement blades

Best aquarium magnet cleaner – different types of Flipper magnets

So many different types of algae can form on the walls of the glass including green/brown algae, diatoms, and even Coraline.

I don’t mind the look of the nice purple Coraline algae in certain spots but you don’t want it covering the viewing areas of your tank.

No longer do you have to worry about getting your arms wet as you reach into the bottom of the tank to scrape algae off the aquarium walls.

The days of buying plastic handled brushes and cleaning pads are over.

With the Flipper magnet, you can reach into those hard to get areas of your tank and remove all the algae without getting a drop of water on you.

There are 3 different types/sizes of Flipper algae cleaning magnets available.

    1. Flipper Nano
    2. Flipper Regular
    3. Flipper Max

One important thing to mention is the Flipper magnets are very strong. Make sure you buy the one best suited for your tank.
  • The Flipper Nano is good for tank glass thickness up to 1/4″ thick.
  • The Flipper Regular is good for tank glass thickness up to 1/2″ thick.
  • The Flipper Max is good for a tank glass thickness of 1″.
Both the Flipper Regular and Max come with both a plastic blade and a metal blade. The Flipper Nano only comes with a metal blade so it is suitable for glass tanks only.

Features and Benefits

The Flipper magnets come with quite a few features and offer many benefits:

  • Huge time savings – You will save a lot of time cleaning the algae off your aquarium’s walls versus using traditional methods and brushes.
  • Dual-sided cleaning – Switch back and forth easily by “flipping” without getting your hands wet.
  • Strong magnets allow you to clean the toughest algae with ease.
  • Upright Buoyancy – Keeps the cleaner upright allowing for easy retrieval.
  • Long-lasting blades – Approx 3-6 months use before blade needs replacing.
  • Will not trap sand or rock particles – Unique design has 3 contact points which keeps the magnet 3mm off the glass. This will prevent scratches and scuff marks.
  • Ultra low profile design – This allows you to reach hard to reach areas of your tank without hitting rocks and other equipment in your tank.

How they work and clean your aquarium glass/acrylic

All Flipper algae cleaning magnets are designed to be very efficient and easy to use. They all have a soft polishing pad on one side and a scraper on the other. They can work together to remove even the toughest hard algae in your tank. Depending on the side you desire, you will have the option of “flipping” the magnet without putting your hands in the tank.

The soft side of the magnet is used for basic glass and acrylic cleaning. Soft and easy to remove algae can be removed with this side. The blade side is used for removing the hard encrusted algae-like Coraline.
 The Flipper basically uses a 3 step process.
  1. Scrub it
  2. Flip it
  3. Scrape it

How to properly use the Flipper

When using the Flipper on the soft padded side, you may want to switch to the blade side to remove tough algae in your tank.
Here is the proper method to “flipping” to the blade side and vice versa.
It’s important to note when you are cleaning close to the sand or substrate in your tank, you should flip to the blade side to avoid getting particles caught in the padding.
  1. Start the flip with the blade side facing down.
  2. Flip in the upper areas of your tank with the flow turned down or off. It is much easier to do when there is no water flow.
  3. Break the magnetic attraction of both sections by pulling the dry side about 6″ from the glass.
  4. Rotate the handle 180 degrees and attach it back to the glass.
  5. Watch the in-tank part of the magnet flip and reconnect to the other side.

And that’s it! Once you perform this a few times it becomes easy to do. You may make mistakes a couple of times at first but once you get the hang of it, there should be no problems.

Here is a great video showing a review of the Flipper and how to flip it.

Pros and Cons

There are many pros to using the Flipper. Many people love it and I am one of them. I can highly recommend it. If there is one con against it, that would be the plastic blade for cleaning acrylic tanks is serrated. While this might not be a big deal to some, I find that you will get an uneven clean. You will have algae streaks where the plastic isn’t flush with the acrylic. Not a deal-breaker for me.

Pros:

  • Strong magnets
  • Unique design
  • Durable and long-lasting
  • 3 different sizes

Cons:

  • Plastic blade for acrylic tanks has serrated edge

Can you use the Flipper on acrylic tanks? 

Yes, you can use the Flipper Algae cleaning magnet on acrylic aquariums!

They work great on acrylic without scratching.

Where to buy the Flipper and replacement blades

You should be able to find these at your local reef aquarium store. They are readily available in many shops. I ordered mine from Amazon, the price was better and I took advantage of the 2-day free shipping.

You can check the current price of the Flipper here.

Replacement blades are also available on Amazon here.

Overall I am very happy with the Flipper algae cleaning magnet. After struggling for a long time with cleaning stubborn algae off my tanks, the Flipper makes it much easier and is convenient.

It’s great for getting into hard to reach areas of the tank plus it just looks good! Try it out and see what you think!

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