I’ve tried scrubbing it several times with bar keepers friend soft cleanser and although it improves, it never goes away completely and it always comes back.
Vinegar
Anything with hard water, just soak with vinegar.
You can even fill a ziplock bag and tie it on a faucet.
If your water is really hard, pour vinegar into that little tube in your toilet too, the jets get clogged easily and that flushes them out and prevents them from blocking up. If they are blocked, the vinegar will eventually open them up if you don’t regularly.
Obviously water softener if you don’t have one, but depending what your waters like you may have to do more.
An alternative to vinegar is citric acid. You can buy it as a tub of crystals so it’s much cheaper because you aren’t paying for water. It’s great because you can add more teaspoons to water to make it stronger than vinegar. Plus it doesn’t smell bad like vinegar.
can this also be used for rust removal on metal?
Ive been using vinegar so far
Where do you find citric acid? I’ve been using white vinegar in a jar in my dishwasher which gets rid of all water spots and cleans better with my hard water. However, I’d like to find a place to purchase citric acid crystals without relying on Amazon.
Citric acid is commonly used in the canning process. So look in the canning section of the grocery store. The last time I found it was at an ACE hardware that had a very good canning section.
Oxalic acid is an option for rust removal, but it is less common. Basically you need an acid that is safe for fiberglass tubs but works on rust. I have also used stuff like CLR or Lime-Away. Just double check that they are safe for the tub.
Just remember that even weak acids can be dangerous to work with. Wear gloves, eye protection and make sure the room is well vented.
Almost any store that sells general canning / food preservation supplies will have food grade citric acid crystals. If you’re in a part of the world that has Walmart, Target, etc, then those types of places will usually have it. Grocery stores often have it. Sometimes it’s considered a seasonal item and is only stocked during times of the year when people are doing lots of canning (i.e. spring through fall).
CLR usually works quite well for stuff like this. It’s a spray cleaner. I think it stands for Calcium, Lime, Rust remover.
Just a word of warning on this - I’ve had CLR ruin countertops and sinks by accidentally leaving it in contact with them for a long time, make sure you’re diligent about wiping up rings from containers and any drips - learn from my expensive mistakes!
Also test it in a hidden spot first to make sure it doesn’t dull the finish or something.
Edit: IMHO give the vinegar suggestion a go first, much less caustic
I don’t know how to fix your problem, but please post this image to one of the UFO communities.
Important question: What is your tub made out of?
Some cleaners may destroy it if you use them.
So it looks like ya got a couple of issues here. As the peeps mentioned, acid - weather in vinegar (preferably stonger like 30%+ if available) or chemicals to take off the lime deposits is a first start. Second it looks like the top layer(s) of the enamel are damaged and or cracked which is why you are struggling with it “coming back and not completely going away”. There are fixes for this, but replacement is usually recommended if this is the case.
Thanks for the info, do you know what the fixes would be, short of replacing the tub?
I’m far from a Profi in the field but I have looked into it before. There are companies that will do it either in home or take it to them, but often it is expensive. There are many home repair kits available, but the paint on / fingernail polish kinds work poorly. The sand the whole tub down and put a new layer on are better… But the cost and work typically don’t justify it. If they are just top surface damages, you could try a higher polish sand job on the tub and see.