Young Frankenstein
I sniff ozone and relax.
Has anyone used muriatic acid to clean rock ? is it reefsafe after cleaning with water ?
Muriatic acid
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CookieJar
Active Member
i've used it and it works great- takes everything off, but i would stress to be ****very careful*****. fumes & contact w/ skin can really be trouble- do research before you use it as it really should be called 'liquid death'. Regarding the rocks, i've put cleaned rocks in fresh water for a week or so, but not an expert on how long it needed.
OP
OP
Young Frankenstein
I sniff ozone and relax.
Man if cleans like crazy, yes it is dangerus and also feels dangerus when the rocks start to fizzle 
did you see any coral efects after a week in water ?
did you see any coral efects after a week in water ?
SDguy
Valuable Member
Muriatic acid is just diluted hydrochloric acid. It dissolves anything calcium carbonate based. So it'll basically take a top layer of your rock off. What are you trying to clean off your rock?
OP
OP
Young Frankenstein
I sniff ozone and relax.
This not rock from my aquarium, and whant it spotles
Lazys Coral House
Well-Known Member
muratic acid is great to clean rock. 10 parts water to 1 part acid. It will remove phosphates out of the rock. You can let it soak for a couple hours then dump and rinse the rock. Let it dry in the sun and then it will be harmless.
OP
OP
Young Frankenstein
I sniff ozone and relax.
Yes its a miracle cleaner, thank you for the replys EVEN I DONT KNOW SOME THINGS LOL :llama:
EVEN I DONT KNOW SOME THINGS LOL :llama:
Just use undiluted distilled white vinegar. Same effect and much much safer to use. $1.88 a gallon at Wal Mart.
cdness
2006 - Present
I used vinegar to clean some of my rocks... But we did use muriatic acid to clean a friend's rocks. I would say the muriatic acid works wonders but man is it dangerous. I breathed in a quick whiff of the fumes and I was sick for a couple days. Didn't help that we were killing some palys in the process that were unable to be removed from the rock.
muratic acid is safe. if you get it on your skin wash it off. we use it to clean algae and moss of roofs, sprayed it on full strength then washed it off. as soon as it is diluted it wont do or harm anything. except maybe help evergreen trees grow.
I wouldnt drink it but still I have had it all over me from blowback from the pressure washer. they sell it as deck cleaner at home depot.
I wouldnt drink it but still I have had it all over me from blowback from the pressure washer. they sell it as deck cleaner at home depot.
I personally wouldn't let it sit in acid more than 20 or 30 minutes.... I added baking soda to help neutralize the acid after 20 minutes and it still ate up a bunch of rock. After its done soaking in acid carefully dump out the acid water and soak it in reg tap water with more baking soda if desired.... I let mine soak for several hours. Then dump it out and soak it in ro/di (I added a bit of Baking soda as well) for a day or so, and just to be safe dumped it out soaked it with ro/di again for a couple of days. Its now in the tank and looks great!
ps. I also bleached the rock(since it was algae encrusted) before acid washing. Make sure all bleach is removed before acid washing!
ps. I also bleached the rock(since it was algae encrusted) before acid washing. Make sure all bleach is removed before acid washing!
This is what happens when you mix muratic acid and bleach:
Chlorine fumes send Phoenix kids, swim coach to hospital - News from The Arizona Republic
Use undiluted distilled white vinegar, give the rock a good freshwater soaking afterwards and call it good.
The other option is using bleach then a good long soaking in fresh water with maybe some sodium thiosulfate added but I would never do acid and bleach both, too risky.
Chlorine fumes send Phoenix kids, swim coach to hospital - News from The Arizona Republic
Use undiluted distilled white vinegar, give the rock a good freshwater soaking afterwards and call it good.
The other option is using bleach then a good long soaking in fresh water with maybe some sodium thiosulfate added but I would never do acid and bleach both, too risky.
I didn't say use muratic acid and bleach... That would not be good. I use bleach because thats what we have been using for years to bleach coral, sterilize tanks etc. I use that to remove any of the big critters that could have died in the rock... Then if you want to remove a little of the rock a good soak in vinegar.
Make sure you have absolutely no traces of the one before you use the other. Bad news otherwise.
As others mentioned, baking soda can be used to neutralize the acid. You can also use kalk. Just add a few teaspoons until the acid stops reacting to it. Please don't dump acidic water down the drain without neutralizing it first.
The duration of the soak depends on how strongly acidic your stuff is. I got some muriatic acid labeled as "green" from Home Depot and read that it is slightly more dilute compared to the other stuff they had. I diluted it further (somewhere around 1 acid:4 water), and it worked fine. (Reminder: Always add acid to water. It reduces the danger of splashing.)
I only needed 6-8 minutes with my BRS rock with the above regimen, but I took the rock out with gloves to inspect them periodically. If you're using this on rock with junk growing into it, you may need longer. If you use a different acid (i.e. *undiluted* white vinegar), you may need more/less time. Use some judgment.
The duration of the soak depends on how strongly acidic your stuff is. I got some muriatic acid labeled as "green" from Home Depot and read that it is slightly more dilute compared to the other stuff they had. I diluted it further (somewhere around 1 acid:4 water), and it worked fine. (Reminder: Always add acid to water. It reduces the danger of splashing.)
I only needed 6-8 minutes with my BRS rock with the above regimen, but I took the rock out with gloves to inspect them periodically. If you're using this on rock with junk growing into it, you may need longer. If you use a different acid (i.e. *undiluted* white vinegar), you may need more/less time. Use some judgment.
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