how to clean bottom of toilet where the water sits

[littlemissmulledwine]

just helping a friend clean her new house and we can't get the dark stains at the bottom of the toilet bowl to go away

we've used cillit bang abs scrubbed then more cillit bang and left for few hours and no luck

tried bleach and limescale remover too.

i vaguely remember something about denture cleaning tablets?

Toilet brush or harpic power plus

I've used coke successfully, too. And an old pointy knife to just gently tease at the edge of sheets of limescale! Must be done very carefully or the metal scratches the porcelain.

Spirits of salts shifts it, just don't inhale until you have flushed it away.

Kilrock - b and q

Scoop out water, put white vinegar in, leave for a few hours and it will wipe away. Environmentally friendly, cruelty free and cheap!

White vinegar and bicarbonate of soda

To remove water from toilet, get a cheap jumbo car sponge and a bucket or washing up bowl, dunk sponge and squeeze out into bucket/bowl, repeat til empty, doesn't take very long at all, mine empties in 4 sponges. This stuff is good too, very hard water area here and it clears really quickly, often on offer at £1 too!

I hope OP has got it sorted after 6 years.

A generous amount of white vinegar (like at least a mugful) then leave it overnight. Might need to use a loo brush in the morning but it should loosen up and just flake off.
It's always worth looking at the ingredients of cleaning products, often limescale ones are mostly water and vinegar!

Harpic limescale remover - it won't come off in one go but use it over a few nights (to let it work whilst the toilet isn't in use so much) and it should come off. We have just moved and had the same problem - now it's back to shiny white just using Harpic regularly with a scrub.

I used these - put on the rubber gloves and rubbed these across the stains (they were old rust stains from a nail that had dropped down) and they cleaned it beautifully www.lakeland.co.uk/24466/3-Magic-Eraser-Stain-Remover-Cleaning-Blocks?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyMe7x4Wv3wIVqrztCh3iHwu4EAQYASABEgJjovD_BwE&src=gfeed&s_kwcid=AL!49!3!251275986876!!!g!43864954325!&ef_id=W_hr6gAAAFiJjmLA:20181220183225:s

@DeepanKrispanEven This zombie thread keeps coming back because loos still get grim below the waterline, especially if you live in an hard-water area, and just before Easter and Christmas loads of us still have panic moments of 'OMG I need to sort this before my MIL sees it and JUDGES ME!!!'

Vinegar did the biz for me.

Basic chemistry helps. Limescale is basically calcium and acid dissolves it.

Vinegar contains acetic acid and cola contains phosphoric acid which is why those things work.

Mixing alkaline and acid cleaners can be dangerous, but also ineffective because they neutralise each other.

Harpic do power tablets you leave and soak overnight. Very effective.

Just refreshed the page - started reading several minutes ago. 6 years!! Hope op isn’t stuck down the loo.

At least if stuck, OP can be grateful they have a sparkling clean loo.

@Daisy301084

Looks like you have quite hard water AND slightly leaky water tank in your loo.
The Bloo blocks that you drop in the tank should help because they soften the water, but it would be best to check (and possibly replace) the flush valve so it doesn't leak.