Muriatic acid

jayroc24

jayroc24

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So I purchased a 90 gallon RR tank that is caked everywhere with Coralline Algae, in doing some research I have found 3 ways of cleaning this stuff.
Vinegar, Hydrogen Peroxide, and MA.

This tank will not be getting water in it for at least another month, tons of prep work to do.
I will have plenty of time to rinse thoroughly...

Currently I am soaking in a vinegar/hydrogen mixture, it is some what working but the algae is so thick in some areas that it is pretty hard on my scrapper and I do not want to scratch the glass or damage the seams.
It has been soaking to about 2 days now, did some research and found that muriatic acid just eats the heck out the organic matter.

Has anyone tried this?
I want the tank to be spotless (or at least best possible) before starting on this build, really concerned about the silicone areas (seams) and the hard to reach areas (overflows) as far as getting rid of the organic matter.

Thanks in advance.
 
Citric acid may be safer, as would vinegar. I’ve never used Muriatic to clean a tank, and would also be worried about the silicone. All good questions though.

however, just to be certain, you are doing this because you want to, correct? Because dead coralline isn’t such a bad thing. It may even help your tank to look established even faster by increasing the surface area of the inside of the tank, providing more room for beneficial bacteria and spots for live coralline to catch onto. In your shoes, I would choose to keep the coralline. But that’s my preference, and it’s totally cool if you want your tank to be spotlessly clean in the beginning.

great question! Hopefully you receive some good feedback.
 
ActiveAngel said:
Citric acid may be safer, as would vinegar. I’ve never used Muriatic to clean a tank, and would also be worried about the silicone. All good questions though.

however, just to be certain, you are doing this because you want to, correct? Because dead coralline isn’t such a bad thing. It may even help your tank to look established even faster by increasing the surface area of the inside of the tank, providing more room for beneficial bacteria and spots for live coralline to catch onto. In your shoes, I would choose to keep the coralline. But that’s my preference, and it’s totally cool if you want your tank to be spotlessly clean in the beginning.

great question! Hopefully you receive some good feedback.
Click to expand...
Yes, the CA covers every part of the glass including the front and I am OCD.... :)
 
jayroc24 said:
Yes, the CA covers every part of the glass including the front and I am OCD.... :)
Click to expand...
That’s totally understandable; you gotta at least clean the front/viewing glass.

Also, I’ll be the first to say, you picked a bad hobby to be OCD. Lol
 
Ok, I'm gonna beat a dead horse here and say citric acid is the way to go too. I used vinegar for 15 years and only recently switched to citric acid and wish I would have done it a long time ago. It will take a lot but you can buy it from Amazon in 20 lb bags. Heck, @Adam bought a 50 lb bag somewhere. CA just chews the stuff away too and it'll dissolve even the thickest stuff. When I have corals that grow on my frag rack, I soak in CA and hit it with a toothbrush to knock away the surface material and it gets right down to the plastic in no time.
 
I got an 80lb bucket from a supplier in Alabama I’ve been using for over a year and haven’t used half of it yet. Haha.
 
I've used muriatic before for large cleaning jobs, however I did dilute it in about a 10:1 ratio (doesn't need to be precise) with water. It works great, won't harm silicone seals or anything like that. However working with acids does warrant care, don't get it in your eyeballs.

Is citric a better option than muriatic? I don't know, maybe. But muriatic can be pretty darn cheap when one gallon from the hardware store can be easily diluted into 10-15 gallons of cleaning solution.
 
If your just cleaning a tank id use hot water/vinegar and a new razor blade, if its equipment id use citric acid.... just my 2c✌️
 
The biggest problem with muriatic acid is the chlorine gas it gives off. Not good for indoors.

For CA I just use a scrapper. It is much less trouble for those big flat surfaces. Citric Acid is good for those intricate parts like pumps.
 
Just an update, I do work with chemicals from time to time but not in this application so I was unsure what the acid would do to the glass/silicone.
We did wear proper PPE.

I did go with the MA, diluted it to a 10:1 ratio and it began work right away. it worked great and removed it all in about an hour.
the existing growth was so thick that even sitting in a bath of vinegar and hydroperoxide for 2 days did not even touch this stuff.

I applied it with a spray bottle then using an aquarium grade scrub brush gently washed it away with water, filled the tank a few times to ensure the MA is gone.

One thing that I did not know, was that the coralline alga can etch the glass if left on there for an extended period of time, I did find this out after the cleaning, seems to be most prevalent on the sides and back.
Certainly there is learning experience to purchasing a used tank that has been let go for an extended period of time.
Once filled with water the etching is not as noticeable, but it is there.
 
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