How a Public Aquarium Cut Surface Cleaning Labor 35%
A high-traffic public oceanarium replaced its spray-and-wipe routine across acrylic and glass exhibit panels with MinnYaso Extra Large Extra Thick Magic Sponge Eraser Sheets — and recovered hours every single day.
A Relentless, High-Volume Cleaning Cycle
This mid-sized public aquarium attraction operates as a full-scale oceanarium — over 1 million gallons of water across more than 20 aquatic exhibit tanks, plus a 100+ foot immersive walk-through tunnel. With nearly half a million guests passing through annually, the marine life center faces a constant, demanding cycle of cleaning.
Glass panels on exhibit tanks, acrylic viewing tunnels, touch pool barriers, entry doors, display cases, and interior windows accumulate fingerprints, nose smudges, water splashes, and general grime at a relentless pace — especially in high-traffic zones and children's areas.
"We're a hands-on, immersive facility. That's by design — kids are pressing their faces against the glass, which is exactly what we want. But keeping all those surfaces pristine was becoming a serious operational burden."
— Facilities Operations ManagerLabor-Intensive Cleaning, Inconsistent Results
Prior to 2025, the janitorial team relied on a mix of microfiber cloths with spray glass cleaner, pre-moistened disposable wipes, squeegees on larger panels, and paper towels as a high-volume backup. Familiar tools — but they came with compounding problems.
Multiple Passes Required
Microfiber and spray often required two to three passes to fully remove fingerprint oils and smudges from acrylic. Streaking was persistent under the facility's specialized aquarium lighting, which made every imperfection visible to guests. Staff frequently backtracked to re-clean surfaces that looked clean from one angle but showed residue from another.
High Labor Hours
A rotating team of 14 part-time janitorial staff spent an estimated 6–8 hours per day collectively on surface cleaning alone during peak periods — not counting floors, restrooms, or exhibit-area upkeep.
Consumable Cost and Waste
Disposable wipes were convenient but expensive at scale — 4–5 canisters per day during busy stretches. With paper towels and spray cleaner added in, surface-cleaning consumables alone ran roughly $1,100–$1,400 per month.
Acrylic Panel Sensitivity
Several exhibits use high-clarity acrylic rather than glass. Acrylic is prone to micro-scratching from abrasive materials, so certain wipes and scrubbers were off-limits entirely — limiting options and slowing the process further.
A Format Built for Scale
In early 2025, the facility's procurement coordinator was reviewing the annual supply budget when she came across the MinnYaso 100 Pack Extra Large Extra Thick Super Durable Magic Sponge Eraser Sheets. Several attributes stood out:
- Extra-large format (7.25" x 4.5") — far larger than standard eraser sponges, covering more surface area per wipe
- Extra thick (0.12") — more material per sheet for durability and extended use
- No chemical cleaners required — activated by water alone
- 100 sheets per pack at a competitive per-unit cost
"The size immediately stood out. Most eraser sponges are small — you're pinching a little block and scrubbing. These sheets are closer to a full cleaning pad. That changes how quickly a staff member can work through a panel."
— Procurement CoordinatorThe aquarium ordered two cases as a pilot test before committing to a full facility rollout.
Four Weeks, Three Zones
Staff ran the eraser sheets alongside their standard supplies across three of the most demanding zones, logging time and product usage at the end of each shift:
- The Ocean Tunnel — a 100+ foot acrylic walk-through, the most high-touch surface in the oceanarium
- The Touch Pool — a waist-high open exhibit with acrylic perimeter panels, heavily trafficked by children
- The Main Lobby Atrium — floor-to-ceiling glass adjacent to the entrance, subject to weather smudging and heavy contact
| Zone | Daily Time (Before) | Daily Time (Pilot) | Reduction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ocean Tunnel | 2.1 hrs | 1.4 hrs | 33% |
| Touch Pool | 1.4 hrs | 0.9 hrs | 36% |
| Main Lobby Atrium | 1.2 hrs | 0.8 hrs | 33% |
Staff reported the sheets lifted fingerprint oils, nose smudges, and water marks in a single pass with light dampening — no spray cleaner, no second wipe, no streaking. Importantly, no micro-scratching or surface damage was observed on acrylic during the pilot.
"With the old wipes, you'd spray, wipe, check the angle under the light, wipe again, maybe a third time. With these sheets, one pass and you move on. You just feel the surface come clean immediately."
— Aquatic Service Center Team LeadFrom Pilot to Primary Tool
Based on the pilot data, the aquarium transitioned the entire facility to MinnYaso Eraser Sheets as the primary surface cleaning tool in February 2025. The rollout covered:
- All 20+ aquatic exhibit tank viewing panels
- The 100+ foot Ocean Tunnel
- Touch pool barriers throughout the oceanarium
- Interior glass partitions and lobby windows
- Entry door glass panels, gift shop display cases, and café glass dividers
Spray glass cleaners were retained only for exterior windows — where direct sunlight required faster evaporation — and eliminated entirely from interior surface cleaning protocols.
Adoption in the Animal Husbandry Department
What started as a guest-facing janitorial change quickly spread behind the scenes. The aquarium's Animal Husbandry Department — the aquarists and care staff responsible for life support systems, holding tanks, and the diet kitchen — adopted the same MinnYaso Eraser Sheets for back-of-house surfaces that conventional cleaners struggled with:
- Acrylic on quarantine and holding tanks in off-exhibit care areas
- Clear viewing ports and equipment housings on life support and filtration systems
- Stainless and laminate prep surfaces in the diet kitchen
- Acrylic dividers and observation panels in animal care bays
For husbandry staff, the chemical-free, water-activated cleaning was a particular advantage — removing the risk of cleaner residue near sensitive aquatic environments and food-prep zones, where spray products had always required caution.
"Anything we use around the animals has to be clean and residue-free. Being able to wipe down a holding tank panel or a prep surface with just water — no spray, no rinse — took a real worry off the table."
— Senior Aquarist, Animal Husbandry DepartmentMeasurable, Sustained Savings
Labor Cost Reduction: 35%
By completing the same tasks in meaningfully less time, the aquarium redeployed staff to other duties rather than expanding headcount.
| Metric | Before MinnYaso | After MinnYaso |
|---|---|---|
| Daily surface cleaning hours (collective) | 6–8 hrs/day | 4–5 hrs/day |
| Monthly surface cleaning labor cost | ~$4,200 | ~$2,730 |
| Annual surface cleaning labor savings | — | ~$17,640 |
Consumable Cost Reduction: ~35%
With eraser sheets replacing disposable wipes and reducing paper towel and glass cleaner usage, monthly consumable spend dropped meaningfully.
| Supply | Monthly (Before) | Monthly (After) |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-moistened wipes | $480–$620 | $120–$160 |
| Paper towels (surface use) | $190–$260 | $110–$150 |
| Glass/acrylic spray cleaner | $310–$420 | $180–$240 |
| MinnYaso Eraser Sheets | $0 | $210–$280 |
| Total | $980–$1,300 | $620–$830 |
Monthly consumable savings: approximately $330–$470.
Guest Experience & Cleanliness Scores
The facility's quarterly "cleanliness" satisfaction metric improved from an average of 4.1/5.0 to 4.6/5.0 in the two survey periods following rollout. Operations management attributed a meaningful portion of the lift to consistently cleaner exhibit panels throughout the day.
"Before, even if we cleaned a panel at 10am, by noon it could look rough again. Now the turnaround is so fast that we're actually staying ahead of it."
— Procurement CoordinatorNo Surface Damage
After 12 months across acrylic and glass, no panels required replacement or repair attributable to cleaning damage — a notable improvement over prior years, when one acrylic touch-pool panel had developed surface hazing from an incompatible product.
Adoption Was Self-Driven
Once the pilot results circulated, uptake among the janitorial team was rapid.
"Honestly, the staff started requesting them before management made it official. Once you use them, you don't want to go back to spraying and wiping."
— Aquatic Service Center Team LeadStaff also noted reduced physical effort — the sheets require less pressure and back-and-forth motion than scrubbing with a microfiber cloth, an ergonomic benefit across long shifts of repetitive cleaning.
Why It Worked
One Pass Is Enough
Lifted oils, smudges, and contaminants from glass and acrylic in a single damp pass — eliminating the spray-wipe-check-rewipe cycle that drove excess labor.
Size Matters at Scale
The 7.25" x 4.5" format covers far more area per pass than standard sponges or folded wipes, compressing cleaning time across large panels.
No Chemicals Required
Removing spray cleaner from interior protocols cut costs, simplified supply management, and eliminated chemical residue risk near water exhibits and animal-care areas.
Safe for Acrylic
Non-abrasive eraser action proved compatible with sensitive panels that rule out more aggressive scrubbing tools.
Built for High-Volume Cleaning
For any facility where surface cleaning is a daily, high-volume necessity, MinnYaso's combination of size, cleaning power, and surface compatibility addresses what conventional methods can't.
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