Jestersix

muriatic acid to clean base rocks.

Any member have experience doing this? Where would one get a hold of it? I read a looong time ago some people using muriatic acid to dissolve organics trapped in the rocks. The thought crossed my mind on trying this but would like to hear first from more knowledgable members on the subject. If you know or have experience on this please chime in. TIA
 
Rommel, I did it. Washed all rocks that I took with me to Philly in Muriatic acid. dont remember the concentration I used, but put all the rocks in a 45G can, mixed water and acid, and let sit for a few hours, rinse and repeat. Then rinsed and let sit out to dry. I now have "clean" dry rock for when I set up my tank again (maybe this weekend!!!)

Acid was purchased from HD or Lowes, if I recall. Pool supply should have it too.
 
Kyle, does the acid come in gallon containers? how much would you estimate you used for the 45 gallon container you used? Does the rocks require some type of agitation while in the water/acid mixture? Im assuming you used some type of protective gear? How did you dispose of the acid mixture once done? sorry, i see the word "Acid" and I see damage to everything it touches! :bigsmile:

Hope you get your tank up soon!
 
We use muriatic acid all the time. The "pure" stuff (actually about 38% HCl) is super super gnarly. You should be able to find it at pool supply stores. Don't open it indoors. It releases a lot of fumes in its pure form that are dangerous, so obviously don't stick your face near the lid. Use a face shield, goggles, scuba mask, whatever, but it will blind you if it gets splashed in your eyes. Use long gloves. We don't really have any typical use for the pure stuff. It is too dangerous to work with except for special circumstances.

Once you dilute it down to 10% (9 parts water, 1 part "pure" HCl) it will be much easier to work with. You can splash it on your skin and it won't harm you. If you have little cuts on your hands you'll feel it like lemon juice, but it is not going to leave burns. To make 10% HCl, add the 1 part acid to 9 parts water, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

For soaking rocks, 10% might even be a bit much. You'll create a lot of bubbles and foam. I would start with a 1% bath (add about 1/4th of a gallon to your 45 gallon tub) and go from there. When the rocks stop bubbling you've likely reacted all the HCl with CaCO3.

To neutralize the solution when sending down a drain, use baking soda. You may get some foaming and fizziness so just be careful with it.
 
Thanks for the break down Matt. How much baking soda should be used to neutralize? I'll most likely do this in the backyard so when neutralized will it be ok to drain out to the street drain or dirt patch?
 
How much baking soda depends a lot on factors I can't predict. If you leave the HCl solution on the rocks long enough the solution will neutralize itself by dissolving CaCO3. You are essentially creating baking soda by adding live rock and HCl together.

Long story short you can use pH strips or a pH meter to measure the pH of your solution. Add baking soda until it's high enough. Anything above 5 is fine to pour down a drain en masse. You won't be pouring any toxic components down the drain, it will just be hard, salty, nutrient laden water.
 
When you see the bubbles, that'll be CO2 released from your rocks dissolving.

Be careful of the bubbles aerosolizing your acid solution. The mist can settle where you don't want it.

Also, don't store the concentrated acid in your enclosed garage or basement near aluminum or other metal. The metal can corrode due to HCl gas coming out of solution. Aluminum can show filiform corrosion. Stainless steel gets attacked really well by the chlorine.
 
Appreciate the info fellas. I will give it a shot this weekend. Hopefully it doesnt rain so i can let the rocks dry. New tank build coming up sooner than i expected! Woohoo!
 
I did this in a big red keg tub,
I did it to KILL read algea oon some rocks I wanted to use.

All the safety tips are GREAT!. I Worked in the chemical industry doing hazmat work for years..alot of it on acid sinks.
Always, always add acid to water. Do not add water to acid. If you drop acid into water its dilutes and cools as it reacts. If you add water to acid, it can pop and spit..

I used 1 gal of acid on 25 gal of water and got a nice foamy mix. When the foam stops your acid is done.

I have an extra gal in fremont. You have to buy 2 in the box. You want my extra gal? Willing to trade for dang near any interesting frag.
 
I used it and took extra precautions- long sleeves, rubber gloves, goggles, and put my rocks in a large plastic bin, outside and did the muriatic death solution there, trying to breathe as little of the fumes as possible. Better safe than sorry.
I had no problems and that stuff wiped out all signs of life on the rocks, not even a cockroach stood a chance!
 
Big mac, thanks for the info! Will PM you about a trade.

Bill, good to know. I'm hoping it will also wipe out the stubborn aiptasia that I've relentlessly been trying to eradicate with no luck. I have quite a few shelf pieces that i want to incorporate with my new batch of rocks but I dont want to intoduce pest from the start.

BTW, i have a buddy that works for grainger and he says they have a muriatic acid replacement. Basicalyy it does the same thing as muriatic acid but different chemical mix. anyone heard of this and is it safe to use? Either way im still leaning toward the regular muriatic acid.
 
I would want the composition of the mix.
I wouldnt use an unknown without doing some research.
Muriatic will nearly self neutralize w/ the rocks. Tried tested true..
 
Heres the stuff I was talking about.

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/GREEN-ENVY-Muriatic-Acid-Replacement-5KPY1?Pid=search

Looking at the MSDS and it looks like there are 3 extra ingredients in the brand Grainger sells versus the kind found at HD.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100119310/h_d2/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&keyword=muriatic+acid&jspStoreDir=hdus&Nu=P_PARENT_ID&navFlow=3&catalogId=10053&langId=-1&ddkey=Search

I dont know what the heck ETHOXYLATED AMINES or UREA is (reef safe or not) that is in the green envy brand so I may just pick up the 2 gallons at HD (Hydrogen chloride and water). I atleast know what water is. LMAO! :D
 
melly mel said:
I dont know what the heck ETHOXYLATED AMINES or UREA is (reef safe or not) that is in the green envy brand so I may just pick up the 2 gallons at HD (Hydrogen chloride and water). I atleast know what water is. LMAO! :D
Well, if you're trying to get rid of organic material, I wouldn't want to put urea and amines into the rocks.

At least HCl will disappear eventually by reacting or outgassing.
 
Would it be possible to rinse the rocks really well, then put it in freshwater, then unleash freshwater snails (or a pleco) on the rocks? Would the snails fish eat up the crap, while the embedded crap cycles?

Or put it in freshwater with some sort of freshwater plant?

I have a bunch of rocks I need to cure too...picked up that 180! It's in my garage!

V
 
BigMac said:
When I cooked mine it killed the red hair pube algea. Aptasia is a sissy compared to the red pube algea.

You ain't kidding.

Vincerama2 said:
Would it be possible to rinse the rocks really well, then put it in freshwater, then unleash freshwater snails (or a pleco) on the rocks? Would the snails fish eat up the crap, while the embedded crap cycles?

Or put it in freshwater with some sort of freshwater plant?

I have a bunch of rocks I need to cure too...picked up that 180! It's in my garage!

V

The idea is to strip the surface of the rock removing impacted organic material that can leach PO4 and feed nuisance algae.
 
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