Lowering alk

[emerald crab]

Rona carries muriatic acid(HCl).

[Tyfighter]

I would mix the with some ro water first in a bucket outside. You will get some gassing off and it's pretty toxic and smells like rotten eggs when you add larger amounts at a time. Watch for splashing too it will burn and skin and ruin the carpet.
Good luck!

[Galizio]

Originally Posted by emerald crab

Rona carries muriatic acid(HCl).

Thanx, I found it a Canadian tire. Hopefully don't have to use this stuff anymore:-)


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[Galizio]

Originally Posted by Tyfighter

I would mix the with some ro water first in a bucket outside. You will get some gassing off and it's pretty toxic and smells like rotten eggs when you add larger amounts at a time. Watch for splashing too it will burn and skin and ruin the carpet.

Good luck!

That's a good idea , most likely have to use a large amount just to drop 1 dhk , was reading about .123 L per gallon . I'm just wondering if is going to affect the equipment, I just have power heads, heater , return pump and skimmer.
Thanks


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[GoFish]

Originally Posted by Galizio

That's a good idea , most likely have to use a large amount just to drop 1 dhk , was reading about .123 L per gallon . I'm just wondering if is going to affect the equipment, I just have power heads, heater , return pump and skimmer.
Thanks.

That's wayyyyy to much!
It only takes 1/11000th of the water volume to drop the Alk by 2.8dkh
You can thank Randy Holmes Farley for that equation (look up "lowering alkalinity with acid" on RC post #3). So if your tank is filled without rock and is 105 gallons (397 litres) you'd need 1/11000th of that volume which would be 39.7ml to lower the dkh by 2.8. I'd first figure out how much water you have and what your Alk is for the new water then go from there.

[Galizio]

Originally Posted by GoFish

That's wayyyyy to much!

It only takes 1/11000th of the water volume to drop the Alk by 2.8dkh

You can thank Randy Holmes Farley for that equation (look up "lowering alkalinity with acid" on RC post #3). So if your tank is filled without rock and is 105 gallons (397 litres) you'd need 1/11000th of that volume which would be 39.7ml to lower the dkh by 2.8. I'd first figure out how much water you have and what your Alk is for the new water then go from there.

Great, I just took a quick look on that, that's way better lol... Going to take a read on it. Still making saltwater , so when done with that I can figure it out the water volume, then test the alk and do proper adjustment .

Thanks for the info ,


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[Myka]

When I used H2Ocean I would lower the alkalinity using muriatic acid prior to doing water changes. Be aware that it DRAMATICALLY lowers pH for several hours because the reaction creates CO2. pH will rise back up, but you can't use the water for several hours. Muriatic acids only affects alkalinity and pH.

My buckets of H2Ocean would start around 9.0 dKH, I added 7 mL muriatic acid to 17 gallons of saltwater, and that lowered the alkalinity to about 7.5 dKH. I would suggest you test alkalinity, add a half dose, wait an hour, test again, and see how much more you need to add. Do you have a digital pH meter? You should check pH before adding livestock to the tank as will probably be down in the 6's after you dose. Don't bother with a pH test kit though - it's not good enough. Just make sure the water is in the high 7's before you add livestock.

Btw, provided you don't grossly overdose, it won't hurt your equipment. You won't actually see any changes visually. As mentioned though, it will produce a small whiff of vapor when you open the bottle and also when you add it to the tank - don't breathe it. If you open the windows in the house it will help bring the pH up and will clear that vapor quick too. If you point the powerheads towards the water surface that will help bring the pH up faster too by helping to off-gas the CO2.

[Galizio]

Originally Posted by Myka

When I used H2Ocean I would lower the alkalinity using muriatic acid prior to doing water changes. Be aware that it DRAMATICALLY lowers pH for several hours because the reaction creates CO2. pH will rise back up, but you can't use the water for several hours. Muriatic acids only affects alkalinity and pH.

My buckets of H2Ocean would start around 9.0 dKH, I added 7 mL muriatic acid to 17 gallons of saltwater, and that lowered the alkalinity to about 7.5 dKH. I would suggest you test alkalinity, add a half dose, wait an hour, test again, and see how much more you need to add. Do you have a digital pH meter? You should check pH before adding livestock to the tank as will probably be down in the 6's after you dose. Don't bother with a pH test kit though - it's not good enough. Just make sure the water is in the high 7's before you add livestock.

Btw, provided you don't grossly overdose, it won't hurt your equipment. You won't actually see any changes visually. As mentioned though, it will produce a small whiff of vapor when you open the bottle and also when you add it to the tank - don't breathe it. If you open the windows in the house it will help bring the pH up and will clear that vapor quick too. If you point the powerheads towards the water surface that will help bring the pH up faster too by helping to off-gas the CO2.

Thanks Mika,
I don't have an extra ph monitor, but I'm not going to add any livestock soon, I'm just finishing filling up the tank with new water, then I can check the alk....
My daughter is sick at the moment so is going to take a bit longer, but have no rush anyways....


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[dino]

Just a word of caution I use muriatic and hydrochloride acid everyday and safety is really important. I have to wear a respirator and banana suit. So be safe and avoid getting it on concrete also

[Galizio]

Originally Posted by dino

Just a word of caution I use muriatic and hydrochloride acid everyday and safety is really important. I have to wear a respirator and banana suit. So be safe and avoid getting it on concrete also

Thanks Dino, yes is really dangerous ,
Is a lot of water volume ... Kinda scared to do it :-)


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