Acid dipped my rocks today

Fly5150

Fly5150

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I'm restarting one of my frag tanks. Mostly because I had some aiptasias and vermetid snails on the live rock, and I didn't want them spreading to the tank. I used muriatic acid. I used a 10:1 ratio water to acid and let them cook for 20 minutes. What was left was perfectly clean rock. Anyone doubting the effectiveness of acid dip, the rock came out great and was super easy to do. The muriatic acid can be found at Home Depot in the pool section. Cost was about $25 for the baking soda and acid, I still have a gallon of acid left, and that did about 150lbs of rock.

I filled a tote with rock and 10 gallons of water. Added 1 gallon of acid. Waited 20 minutes, then stirred in a box of baking soda to neutralize the acid. Washed the rocks off with the hose, and set them out to dry. I'll let them dry out for a day or 2, then restart the tank. Here are some pics.

Before






During




After




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russ13

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Smart idea. I always dry the rock and then scrub it with a brush and wash it. I like your idea better
 
Smite

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Yeah stuff works great. I went heavy on that acid, ate away some of the lighter rock for sure. Strong stuff, just be sure to add acid to water, not water to acid to avoid splashing. Do it in the driveway, my lawn has yet to recover, lol!

Some of the rock I cleaned is in my tank with no I'll effects.
 
Fly5150

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Smite said:
Yeah stuff works great. I went heavy on that acid, ate away some of the lighter rock for sure. Strong stuff, just be sure to add acid to water, not water to acid to avoid splashing. Do it in the driveway, my lawn has yet to recover, lol!

Some of the rock I cleaned is in my tank with no I'll effects.
Click to expand...
Did you soak the rock after you dipped it or just rinsed it off?


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gumbii

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doesn't the acid remove the buffering aspect of the live rock...?



i'm going to restart my tank in a couple of months.. thinking about doing this as well...
 
Fly5150

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gumbii said:
doesn't the acid remove the buffering aspect of the live rock...?



i'm going to restart my tank in a couple of months.. thinking about doing this as well...
Click to expand...
Not that I've read. It removes the organics and the top layer of calcium carbonate.


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Smite

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Fly5150 said:
Did you soak the rock after you dipped it or just rinsed it off?


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Click to expand...
I soaked it for a day in tap water but don't know if it was necessary after the baking soda. If there was still acid in the rock you'd probably see some kind of reaction while rinsing it
 
gumbii

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Fly5150 said:
Not that I've read. It removes the organics and the top layer of calcium carbonate.


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Click to expand...
the planted tank people do it to remove the buffering abilities of some rocks... like that fake senryu rock... some of it raises the PH... so they dip them in the acid to remove the PH raising characteristics of the rock...
 
Leandre

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sent fly5150 a pm, not sure if your box is full or not, but i'll post here as well,

i wonder if i could ask you a few questions about this process?

1: how much baking soda does it need to neutralize the acid?

2: once the acid has been neutralized can it be deposed via the toilet?

3: after the rocks have been bathed, rinsed and sun dried are these rocks now ready for cycling or does further curing needed?

thanks for the time,

Andy.
 
Fly5150

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Leandre said:
sent fly5150 a pm, not sure if your box is full or not, but i'll post here as well,

i wonder if i could ask you a few questions about this process?

1: how much baking soda does it need to neutralize the acid?

2: once the acid has been neutralized can it be deposed via the toilet?

3: after the rocks have been bathed, rinsed and sun dried are these rocks now ready for cycling or does further curing needed?

thanks for the time,

Andy.
Click to expand...
I saw it...forgot to respond.

I added 1 small box of baking soda per gallon of acid. I drained it to the gutter (I know...shoot me). Then I rinsed them down with the garden hose really well, and let them dry for a few days. After that they went into my tank to cycle. Check the date on the first post, I started adding coral last week. Everything in there looks way better then it did before.


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P

pandimus

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You can also bleach the stuff to make it pearly white. That's what I did. Be careful some rock an be really brittle afterwards

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Leandre

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ok so let me get this right.

1: fill plastic container with rock and add water
2: add the acid at a 10:1 ratio
3: wait 20ish mins
4: add baking soda, one small box per gallon (1 small box =16oz = 1 pound?)
5: remove rock and rinse
6: air dry for a few days
7: begin cycle
 
Fly5150

Fly5150

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Sickos. Yes leandre. I stirred the water around with a stick after I added the acid, and after I added the baking soda.


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