Muriatic Acid

[Madreefer]

First off I tried to post this in the Tips and Tricks section but there is no option to start a new thread there.

Ok so I was told this is an excellent product to clean pumps and other equipment for our tanks. Who uses it and how? It says right on the bottle to not add water. So is it used at full strength? Too much corraline on my PHs
Thanks

[hillegom]

If I remember my high school chemistry class, you never add water to acid.
But you can add acid to water.
I have heard of other people using muriatic acid to clean equipment but have never used it myself.

[ultreef]

I believe it's 10 part water to 1 part acid. And make sure to do it outdoor.

[Madreefer]

Yea it'll sit unopened until someone that uses it speaks up. I'm too chicken poop.

[monocus]

it's good for removing lime(mortar off bricks).if you do use it make sure you use a respirator,not a dust mask.when you open a bottle you can see the vapors escaping and they will make you gag and cough.it is used for pools,but i was using it on stone walls.

[asylumdown]

ah! muriatic for something as simple as coraline on a pump? That's overkill to the max!

Just go to safeway and get one of those giant 4 or 5 litres of regular table vinegar. fill a large bowl, you can even dilute it 50/50 with no decrease in effectiveness in my experience, you might even be able to dilute it more but I'm impatient lol.

It will have your pumps looking like the day you bought them in a couple of hours. Just use an old toothbrush to periodically scrape away the red/purple stuff that become very slimy once the calcium has been dissolved.

No need to take any extra safety precautions unless you've got natural stone counter tops, in which case, do it somewhere other than your kitchen!

[eli@fijireefrock.com]

Muriatic acid
I been using this product for years to clean anything with calcium deposit simply because I need my equipment cleaned in few minutes compared to few hours.
Need to be careful using high acid product as it restrict your respiratory pipes shut...
vinegar is best used unless you take precautions with muriatic.
I dilute 1-3 cups of acid to every 5 gallons of water to clean anything I need.

[Madreefer]

Originally Posted by eli@fijireefrock.com

Muriatic acid
I dilute 1-3 cups of acid to every 5 gallons of water to clean anything I need.

Thanks all. I've used vinegar for years as well and thought i'd try something new. I too am not patient and I wait too long to clean my pumps. Coraline is pretty thick and vinegar is'nt good enough at full strength over night.

[Aquattro]

I've used it often in the past. I mix it with about 10 parts water (add acid to water, outdoors). It will eat concrete. IT also needs to be neutralized before disposal with baking soda.

[SteveConn]

I use it currently because I was tired of using much slower vinegar. Always mix it carefully to water, NEVER add water to strong acids! It will vaporize the water and you'll get a plume of water vapour and acid coming straight at you.
Even still, it will give off strong vapours at first, so make sure you use ventilation and do not breathe in the fumes. It dissapates when mixed. Eli's mix 1-3c per 5g) is about what I use. Even that can last a while.
Also cheaper than constantly buying 5L vinegar containers. Ive also used it to dissolve coral skeletons to add back to the aquarium as part of dosing(Makes calcium chloride) but not 100% comfortable with the purity of it (anyone know?)