tank cleanup with vinegar??

C

Carabelli

Membership Expired
well, the 105 gallon tank i have has a good amount of dead coralline in the corners along the seams - i would like to clean this up (actually, my fiancee would like me to clean this up) b/f we put the tank in - as opposed to going in with a razor blade or some scraper, could i just fill the tank with water and a good amount of vinegar and break it up that way?? would it damage the tank's seams or the future inhabitants?? of course, i would rinse it out well after it is all done - thanks - my thought is no, but, i wanted to double check.
 
Vinegar works great but for that size I would fill the tank with water top off with about 5 gallons of muratic acid. It would take at least 20 gallons of vinegar to do any good!

It' won't harm anything just wash out a few times!
 
I had to clean up a tank like that once. I just used a razorblade and a 50/50 mix of vinegar and water in a bowl combined with a green scouring pad. The razor did the majority of the work.
 
okay - i definitely like the idea of the muratic acid if that means less work :D

where do i find the muratic acid?? any other precautions - eyes, skin where i dump the waste after it is done?? i think i will soak the 5 or so maxijets i have laying around also - it will be the great cleaning of 05! :lol:
 
I have no basis for this belief, but I personally wouldn't want acid in contact with my silicone seams for an extended period. It might be harmless, but I wouldn't risk it without some research.
 
Muratic acid is real weak on the acid scale! it won't hurt your seams. It's a pool cleaqner so you can find it at Home Depot, Albertsons, Leslie's Pools, etc.

Search RC lots of people use it.
 
thanks - so, i should use about 5 gallons, let it sit for a couple hours or overnight?? then just drain it out and rinse the tank several times?? thanks.

gm

i will research some more on reefcentral and go from there - thanks guys
 
I use Muriatic acid all the time. I've ruined my sink with it, btw.

To clean a tank, what I do is lay it on its front and fill it up with a 1/2" of water and acid (premixed in a bucket). Just let it soak for about 5 minutes, then clean it well. Flip the tank over and do the back the same way. Then each end. Then finally the bottom.

You'll use way less solution, and have less to pour out somewhere. I dump it out in an area that is basically dirt at the edge of my yard, since I like my lawn. If you pour it out on concrete, you may see a cleaner spot, since muriatic acid eats calcium and that is in concrete.

Wearing rubber gloves is prudent. If you don't have any cuts on your fingers, you can get away without using any, but you'll want to rinse your hands well and often. :shock:

Muriatic acid and water don't mix, so you'll need to stir it up well with a piece of PVC before you start.

Rinse the whole tank out with plenty of water. It will be fine. Dry it well, and it is ready to use. Acid lowers pH in a tank, in case you were wondering.

And FYI, about 5 years ago I was asking others how to get rid of Anemonia Majanos, and a couple of guys at MACNA told me I could inject them with muriatic acid. Yeah, in my tank. I ended up using boiling water instead, injecting that into them with a syringe. I just didn't like the idea of adding acid to my reef.
 
thanks marc -

that is some great info - i just don't relish the idea of moving the 105 gallon tank around to clean all the different sides - but, it makes sense - yeah, i don't blame you for using boiling water! :lol:
 
I use muratic acid in my pool. You can get it at Home Depot. But do not put 5 gallons in that tank. 1 gallon of the stuff drops the pH of a 30,000 gallon pool, from about 8.2 to 7.5. I believe in a 120 gallons of water, 1 gallon would be too much. I would set the tank up outside, fill it full of water, put in a cup of muratic acid and turn on a power head to circulate it. If you see the coraline dissolving then that's enough. If not, add another cup of the stuff. As long as you do not add too much of the stuff, it will just lower the pH of the water to a point the coraline will just dissolve. Then you could just dump the water and rinse it with a hose. the tank should look absolutely clean. And as long as you rinse it well, you should have no problems using the tank. The only problem would be if you dumped too much to begin with, and then I could see it damaging the silicon.
 
If I remember correctly, I used a little over 1 gal of muriatic (from Home Depot - comes 2 gals to a case) when I recently cleaned up my new (used) 140 gal and let it set overnight. I use it almost anytime I want to clean a large item like a tank,sump,etc. There are a few scrub brushes that will stand up to straight undiluted use so you can scrub the seams if you don't want to do the whole tank, but I've sure ruined a few brushes also in doing it. Surprisingly enough, the best one I have used even at full strenght was one of the long handled tank algae scrub brushes with the white scouring material on the end. Undiluted will eat Scotch brand green scrubbers pretty quickly too. The other precaution is to not wear any clothing that you care about while scrubbing the items even at some of the diluted strengths, as even the brush spray that you don't notice will leave you a 'mite holey'.. :p. Another nice thing about the muriatic (besides way faster) is that it doesn't mess up the pure rubber feet of the powerheads near as badly as the vinegar when I forget to take them off before soaking them a bit. Overall, I much prefer it to using vinegar when I want to get it done quickly.
HTH
Doug
 
thanks - i plan on checking with my parents to see if they have some laying around as they have a pool - is this safe to use on powerheads and such also??

gm
 
Yes, but it isn't too good for some plastics and rubber. I soaked some locline in pure h. acid once, and it cracked each connection. As soon as the item stops bubbling, it is ready to remove. Don't think longer is better. Usually 5 minutes is plenty, ime.
 
I have used it on several pumps at varying strengths. I prefer to not leave them in it very long though and to watch the various plastic parts. I've never had it do anything bad to any pump (mag 5,7,etc) or powerheads, but I seldom just let them soak for hours in it either. I was concerned about the impellor magnet in a mag 12 I recently cleaned up and although I used it full strength it did not affect the impellor that I could see. I don't ever remember using it full strength on the actual pump motor itself (with the wiring submerged anyway), but I know it was ok on the ones I used it on for partial dilution (it did take off some of the permanent motor letter tho...) :shock: I have used it full strength on the rubber suction cups and mounting brackets and it worked well. If I use it without much dilution, I normally clean the parts immediately so I can see if anything starts to soften or react adversely. For what it's worth, one of the speakers at the Next Wave conference we had earlier this year, uses a 10:1 or 5:1 dilution factor for cleaning equipment with muratic.
HTH
Doug
 
I wasn't suggesting letting it sit for long at that strength for sure. I suggested roughly a 5% solution which is what many use but not for hours on end for sure!

Marc's method is a good idea if feasible. If not I like Ricks idea second best.

If it were me I would just put the powerheads you want to clean in the tank, fill it up with water, turn them on and then slowly add muratic acid as Rick suggested. This should clean both pretty quickly!
 
well, since i didn't find the m. acid at walmart, i decided to try plain ole vinegar - add about an inch of water to the tank and dumped a gallon of vinegar ... let it soak for a while and used an old rag to wipe down the glass and scrub it, after about 30 minutes, it was a lot better - going to let it soak for about 5 hours and then continue to scrub it down -

thanks.
 
Muriatic Acid is available at Albertsons in the pool supply aisle, if you want to speed things along. Vinegar will work, just slower.
 
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