Cleaning used plumbing
- Thread starter Jonathan Chia
- Start date
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
acid will do it, vinegar is probably safest. Diluted muriatic acid is quicker, but with a bit more danger involved.
I assume this is something that is removable?
I assume this is something that is removable?
Jonathan Chia
Guest
Yeah I think it might be dried detritus or something?
Wondering if it's worth the effort cleaning or if there are any benefits from cleaning it
Wondering if it's worth the effort cleaning or if there are any benefits from cleaning it
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
It doesn't look particularly caked on, so any benefit from it being cleaned is probably extremely minimal. I would put it in the "OCD" category for cleaning, it might not do anything useful but it will make you feel better which is itself useful 
jccaclimber
Supporting Member
Honestly it really doesn't matter that much. If you want something that's cheaper long term than vinegar, smells better, and is less likely to burn your eyes out while rusting everything within a 10' radius of where you store it get some citric acid powder. It's pretty cheap in 1-5 pound increments on Amazon. I usually throw in a 1/4 cup or so with a circulation pump (or not) in however small a container as I can fit my item and have at it. A light brushing every now and then to get the organics and you're set. Larger container (like a full fish tank) obviously you'll use more.
It doesn't last forever however so you can't just store a vat of it because it will noticeably grow some sort of goo after several days, but it won't take nearly that long to clean your parts.
This can be handy for getting coralline off of Loc-Line, cleaning pumps, etc.
It doesn't last forever however so you can't just store a vat of it because it will noticeably grow some sort of goo after several days, but it won't take nearly that long to clean your parts.
This can be handy for getting coralline off of Loc-Line, cleaning pumps, etc.
To answer your question- I don’t think it is important to clean out that minimal amount of crud. You can if you want. I personally would if was going to set it up since it is harder to clean later.
To respond to what you didn’t ask but this thread morphed into- Vinegar and citric acid both work great and are safe. Main advantage of vinegar (acetic acid) is that you can reuse it (stored sealed) for months, main advantage of citric acid is that it is dry so easier to store if you are short on space and prefer to use-and-dump. They are both really cheap. Some people feel strongly about the smell of either so that could be important.
There is no practical advantage to muriatic (hydrochloric acid) and plenty of reasons not to use, including personal safety both from contact and fumes, and equipment damage. Somehow it always makes its way into these discussions because it’s readily available. But it shouldn’t.
To respond to what you didn’t ask but this thread morphed into- Vinegar and citric acid both work great and are safe. Main advantage of vinegar (acetic acid) is that you can reuse it (stored sealed) for months, main advantage of citric acid is that it is dry so easier to store if you are short on space and prefer to use-and-dump. They are both really cheap. Some people feel strongly about the smell of either so that could be important.
There is no practical advantage to muriatic (hydrochloric acid) and plenty of reasons not to use, including personal safety both from contact and fumes, and equipment damage. Somehow it always makes its way into these discussions because it’s readily available. But it shouldn’t.
Consumer Muriatic pool acid is usually around 15% hydrochloric acid.
Typical vinegar is usually around 5% acetic acid.
Hydrochloric is a strong acid, where acetic is considered a weak one.
So overall it makes a HUGE difference if you are trying to dissolve a lot of calcium carbonate deposits.
That said:
Muriatic acid is of course moderately dangerous. Obviously.
Most people do not need that kind of acid strength for simple maintenance cleaning.
But I see no problem in providing information on it as an option.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
The main benefit of muriatic is time. if you have all day to clean something then great use vinegar, if its something like a circulation pump impeller and you cant exactly go all day without, then muriatic acid is very handy in that regard. Or if you want to give some rock a cleansing before putting in your tank, vinegar wont do anything in that case. I did mention it was dangerous, but much like wiring up your own lights there are safe ways to handle it if you are careful and know what you are doing.
Burning all organics off of live rock (and dissolving some of the rock) is one situation in our hobby where you may want to use muriatic (hydrochloric/HCl) acid. But for cleaning equipment/plumbing, which is how this thread started and what most would use it for, I stand by what I said that it has no place because the downsides outweigh any upsides.
Calcium carbonate and other biological buildup are very quickly softened and then dissolved by acetic acid and citric acid. After just 30-60 min even very dense buildup can start to be brushed periodically to reveal deeper layers and speed the process along if you are under a time constraint. If you do this, it is doubtful you would save any time using hydrochloric acid. Most of the time you shouldn’t be under a time constraint. If you are doing periodic maintenance, like you presumably are for anything that would be missed when it is out of service, then the whole cleaning only takes 30-60 min total. It never needs to take all day.
HCl is much more likely to damage equipment than the other options, and requires significant safety precautions that most people learning about on here won’t know about and many people don’t follow even if they do know about.
It’s not that I’m scared of or otherwise opposed to HCl, I use it frequently for my pool. I also don’t think we always have to avoid anything a little dangerous if it is important. I just think it is the wrong tool for this job for multiple reasons. Plus folks who are learning about the hobby by reading this forum would be much better served by pointing them in the right directions from the start, rather than in a questionable direction, just because it is possible.
Calcium carbonate and other biological buildup are very quickly softened and then dissolved by acetic acid and citric acid. After just 30-60 min even very dense buildup can start to be brushed periodically to reveal deeper layers and speed the process along if you are under a time constraint. If you do this, it is doubtful you would save any time using hydrochloric acid. Most of the time you shouldn’t be under a time constraint. If you are doing periodic maintenance, like you presumably are for anything that would be missed when it is out of service, then the whole cleaning only takes 30-60 min total. It never needs to take all day.
HCl is much more likely to damage equipment than the other options, and requires significant safety precautions that most people learning about on here won’t know about and many people don’t follow even if they do know about.
It’s not that I’m scared of or otherwise opposed to HCl, I use it frequently for my pool. I also don’t think we always have to avoid anything a little dangerous if it is important. I just think it is the wrong tool for this job for multiple reasons. Plus folks who are learning about the hobby by reading this forum would be much better served by pointing them in the right directions from the start, rather than in a questionable direction, just because it is possible.