Mag-Flip Modification

[Sascha D.]

Hello Everyone,

There is no reefer alive that hasn't gotten hard algae and coralline on their glass, and I am no exception. In the past I've tried many methods with varying degrees of success. By far the best method that I have used is a razor blade. The goal is to use a razor to clean the tank without getting soaked to the core. After looking at products online, I thought I had found a solution; the Mag-Flip.

My first impression of this product was that there was no way the magnet would hold on my thick glass. Straight out of the box there is no way this product would work. I gave it a test and I was right. The scraper either isn't sharp enough or doesn't push against the glass with enough strength to be effective, though the magnet was stronger than I had expected.

This is a shot of the glass scraper. You can see from the picture that Mag expects this plastic piece to remove coralline algae from our tanks. Not gonna happen.

So what can we do? Well we have to figure out a way to make the blade stronger. The solution? Add a razor. Here's how:

First we remove the plastic scraper. You'll see there are two plastic tabs that help hold the plastic onto the blade. Snap those off as close to the top as you can.

Next, we're going to insert a razor blade in between the plastic blade and the scraper.

Make sure the blade sits evenly.

Now lets see how it works:

After the modification the scraper works like a champ! Best of all, I stayed dry. It took me about ten minutes to scrape the glass of a 150 gallon tank and the entire set up only cost me $10 bucks.

[Planeden]

Thanks. I just got one of these because I heard how amazing they were. Like you, I was unimpressed and did not find it adequate to even scrape regular algae, much less coralline. I figured I was using it wrong .

[Sascha D.]

The razor cuts through it extremely easily. The glass looks super clean now.

[mFrame]

Great review and mod!

The magflip was the first version that has since been replaced by the Fl!pper Cleaner. The Fl!pper has a strong magnet and comes with a metal blade, I did a review of the new model here.

I still have my original magflip and it works fine on thinner glass though it still has challenges with coraline. I definitely recommend the Fl!pper, but the sizing of the two is a bit different so the blades aren't compatible.

[Planeden]

Great review and mod!

The magflip was the first version that has since been replaced by the Fl!pper Cleaner. The Fl!pper has a strong magnet and comes with a metal blade, I did a review of the new model here.

I still have my original magflip and it works fine on thinner glass though it still has challenges with coraline. I definitely recommend the Fl!pper, but the sizing of the two is a bit different so the blades aren't compatible.

oh! that's what it was. see, i thought that original one was not being made anymore because it was licensed by the flipper guys. so i figured when i saw it new in the store it was going to be the good one. anyway, thanks for setting me straight, and trying to steer me in the right direction to start with .

[+KimP]

Great mod. It's nice that you can easily replace razor blades as needed vs having to buy special replacement blades.

[Sascha D.]

I originally bought the Mag-Flip, thinking it was the Flipper. The difference in price is pretty substantial and I thought I was getting a good deal. To tell you the truth, I agree with KimP. The blades are like 20 cents and easy to change. After scraping my whole tank the blade was still sharp. I will probably only use it once a month or so anyway. They should last at least a few sessions. My only concern is what to do if the plastic piece holding the razor breaks.

[mFrame]

Make sure to dry it well and remove it from the tank so the razor blades will last. They rust in no time with salt water.

[ct67stang]

great post Sasha. now can you rig it to work on my bow front

[chiu]

Thanks for the tip. I just bought one and modded and it works great!