Reminder: NEVER mix bleach and acid

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

This news is a few years old, but it shows how easily the chlorine produced can be deadly:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1078866
Since reefers use both bleach and acid, and sometimes even on the same article being treated, be certain you never use them together, and don’t allow them to mix in a waste collecting container.

 

[Zach B]

Wow! Nasty stuff. Thank you

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Somehow the link got messed up. It’s fixed now.

 

[Dcal]

does that combo make mustard gas or something else

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

does that combo make mustard gas or something else

Chlorine gas, Cl2.

Mustard gas is different.

 

[homer1475]

Mustard gas is from mixing bleach an ammonia.

Working in the food industry, I've seen that mistake a few times.

Also, never mopped a floor with bleach either, just for this concern(it's a restaurant floor, you never know what got spilled on it). Usually just use a good quality degreaser.

 

[Garf]

Pouring 18% Hydrochloric over a fully charged mixed bed DI resin, is not a worthwhile experiment, looking back. :)

Edit - I may have added sodium hydroxide also. Either way, it’s something you only do once, or never.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

This news is a few years old, but it shows how easily the chlorine produced can be deadly:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1078866
Since reefers use both bleach and acid, and sometimes even on the same article being treated, be certain you never use them together, and don’t allow them to mix in a waste collecting container.

I once cleaned a concrete floor where a dog had peed (many times) with bleach - it made a noxious gas. Was that some sort of chloramine?

Jay

 

[homer1475]

I once cleaned a concrete floor where a dog had peed (many times) with bleach - it made a noxious gas. Was that some sort of chloramine?

Jay

Ammonia and bleach... Chloramine gas.

 

[Koh23]

Fun stuff, i did it once.... Newer again....

Interesting fact, exact same thing hapened few days ago on one of local resorts, somehow they mixed acid and bleach, in such scale that few people that were on pool ended in hospital....

 

[Biglew11]

I once soaked some rocks in vinegar and didn't rinse them well enough, then put them in water with some bleach. It wasn't a strong reaction but it was enough to make a smell that reminded me acid and bleach don't mix.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Mustard gas is from mixing bleach an ammonia.

Working in the food industry, I've seen that mistake a few times.

Also, never mopped a floor with bleach either, just for this concern(it's a restaurant floor, you never know what got spilled on it). Usually just use a good quality degreaser.

Mustard gas?

Perhaps there are other chemicals called mustard gas, but normal mustard gas does not contain nitrogen and does contain sulfur, so cannot come from bleach and ammonia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustard_gas

 

[Aspect]

For what is acid used for in reefing? I've never heard of acid being used in a reef tank.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I once cleaned a concrete floor where a dog had peed (many times) with bleach - it made a noxious gas. Was that some sort of chloramine?

Jay

Likely yes.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

For what is acid used for in reefing? I've never heard of acid being used in a reef tank.

Many uses.

I dosed vinegar for years, as do many people.

Lots of people clean deposits of calcium carbonate off of pumps, etc. with hydrochloric acid or citric acid.

Some folks clean copper or phosphate off of old "live" rock with an acid exposure. This is the one I noted above since the same folks sometimes also use a bleach treatment to remove organics.

Some folks lower alk in new salt water with hydrochloric acid or sodium bisulfate.

many test kits have an acid component.