Acid wash (1 Viewer)

[dayton]

I know some of you will do an acid wash on your rocks when getting them from someone else. Do you follow the instructions on the bottle or is there a better ratio? I will be doing it in a brute trash can.

 

[Diesel]

I used a full gallon of muriatic acid on a 32 gallon trash can.
Did let it cook for about 48 hours and rinse as many times as you can let it soak into RODI water with a pump for 5 days and three days in saltwater before using it again.
During the three days in saltwater test for PO4 and if possible put a skimmer on it.

 

[Cody]

Just to clarify, as I've never done an acid bath on rocks, what is the purpose of a muriatic bath? My understanding is that it is meant to kill any growth on the rock, but does it also take out phosphates that could leach out? I assume that if it dissolved some of the rock, then it would both kill all growth and remove any phosphates that might have been bound to the rock.

 

[dayton]

Not sure about the phosphates but it's used to make sure EVERYTHING is dead.

 

[Diesel]

To my knowledge it will kill anything that's alive on and in the rock but it won't remove phosphate.

 

[tektite]

I assume that if it dissolved some of the rock, then it would both kill all growth and remove any phosphates that might have been bound to the rock.

Pretty much what happens. The process is also useful if the rocks have been used in a tank that was given a copper treatment. For the phosphate/nitrate/copper removal though, enough acid must be used to take off a decent layer of the rock itself.

 

[Diesel]

I just ask Mike and this is what his reply was by text,

Quote(Depending on your situation one possible option is lanthanum chloride. I recently had a similar situation in which my rocks were leaching PO4. It was keeping my level at 0.3 as reported by a hach PO-19 test kit. I was already experimenting with lanthanum chloride when I discovered I had an issue. I wouldn’t recommend this approach to anyone without proper investigation. I made a spreadsheet to calculate the amount of lanthanum chloride to remove x amount of PO4 in fresh water as indicated by the product which I purchased. I then multiplied this by amount by 5 to account for LaCl’s ability to remove PO4 from seawater. I also determined the amount of top off water I used each day and then added the appropriate amount of LaCl to my 30-gallon reservoir. My top off water outlet was fed directly into a 10-micron filter sock to remove the particulates. Using this approach my PO4 leaching issue was taken under control in 3 weeks. I would recommend viewing the attached thread to determine if LaCl is a viable option for your situation. Alternatively you could remove part of your live rock and place in a container of seawater and moderately dose LaCl with circulation. This will not obstruct the rocks biological filtration. Measure PO4 until you are satisfied with the outcome. Others have reported that this can give adequate results from 2 – 4 weeks depending on the amount of PO4 bound to the rocks.

 

[Cody]

Ah I see. Thanks for the feedback. I don't think I'll ever do one, I was just curious. I'll stick to LaCl soaks. Acid baths seem to be a pretty extreme answer to an otherwise easy problems to fix. To each their own, though.

 

[Diesel]

Ah I see. Thanks for the feedback. I don't think I'll ever do one, I was just curious. I'll stick to LaCl soaks. Acid baths seem to be a pretty extreme answer to an otherwise easy problems to fix. To each their own, though.

That only if you have a PO4 problem, in most cases ppl use acid in order to take out anything alive, flatworms, redbugs, aptasia and I can name a few more.
P04 is a easy problem to fix in your tank but pest can be a pain in the buttocks.

 

[Cody]

Thanks, Diesel. I used dry rock when I started my tank and initially soaked it in LaCl. I got impatient, didn't wait to get zero readings, and put it in the tank. I battle GHA issues on the rocks for a while, and eventually did what Mike described. I removed about a third of the rock, soaked it while dosing it with LaCl, returned it to the tank, and had great results. I haven't had issues since then.

I have also researched using it on a day to day basis instead of GFO. Personally, I use an algae turf scrubber, but I was curious. It seems that if dripping LaCl into a filter sock is executed correctly, then people have had great results for a fraction of the cost of GFO. The biggest issue I think most people ran into was that it stripped their tank of too many phosphates, if anything. Anyway, that's neither here nor there. I just wanted to know what all the hype was about over acid baths. Thanks for he feedback

 

[Diesel]

Seems you covered all your basses.
I did the same, used all dry rock and had it cycle till I had zero readings.
Than I cycled my tank on a ULNS and never saw a piece of algae other than on my glass.

 

[Cody]

Yep. I'm a huge fan of the route I took. The dry rock is the way to go, considering how our hobby is in danger these days. If not dry rock, then something like what Tampa has going on. If we keep pulling too much out of the ocean, we are going to find ourselves out of a hobby real quick. That, or I could just become the new Don of the saltwater black market. Hhhmmmm.......

 

[dayton]

I did it for the reason I didn't know what all was on the rock if anything. So, I didn't want to risk it and just nuked it.

 

[notmyname]

This is a good thread guys. Our dry rock has never been in an aquarium and is very dead lol. I wonder if running a muriatic acid bath has additional benefits? We had one customer do a muriatic acid bath on Buna Branch, it came out looking beautiful (is probably now covered in coralline lol)... Here is a pic of what it looked like after his acid bath:

Buna Branch after Muriatic Acid Bath

 

[fingas]

I started my first tank with dry rock but after the crash and a year long battle with hair algae I pulled it and gave it an acid bath. I bleached it for a day wit a 1:5 mixture of bleach to get rid of the majority of the crud then into a muriatic bath at 1:10 strength. The rock came out looking great and is now in the new tank. Some of the shelf pieces became pretty brittle at that concentration but all else faired well


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[rlpardue]

Some general info:
I think the main goal of acid-washing rock should be stripping the outer layer (where old PO4 is bound). It's really only helpful (towards that goal) when you're using rock that's been in aquariums for some time. If you want to kill rock, bleach should work better.

Acid does dissolve the calcium carbonate it comes in contact with, which is the outside layer and any porous surfaces.

 

[Diesel]

BTW, how many of you guys ever cooked/boiled Live Rock.
Maybe this should be more of a topic it self.

 

[ReefMaster32787]

So when you use this muriatic acid how much of the rock does it eat away in a 48 hour period? I know its difficult to say but is it a minimal amount or a large portion?

 

[jhill9]

So when you use this muriatic acid how much of the rock does it eat away in a 48 hour period? I know its difficult to say but is it a minimal amount or a large portion?

It all depends on the concentration and how much acid you use. When I did mine it took off a good amount but I only soaked mine for an hour. As the rock dissolves the acid gets neutralized.

 

[dayton]

Like Jhill said, the initial phase takes more off. I only needed one (large) rock done and I filled up a Brute about half way and only used about 1/2 a gallon of acid. After about 24hrs I could have actually used a little more acid as it left a little bit of "crap" on the rock still.