Cleaning Equipment In Vinegar Questions

[BigEZ77]

It has come to the time that I need to clean my skimmer, powerhead and return pumps. I understand I can run them in vinegar to do so. What is the minimum amount of time I can do so to be effective? I've heard overnight or for 24 hours but was hoping I could do all 4 during one day on a weekend. i.e. run each in vinegar for 3 hours. Would that do the trick?

Also, do I need to change the vinegar for each one?

Thanks,

 

[Rlyman1]

depends how gunked up it is - I just did a vinegar soak for a few hours in stead of over night. As long as your willing to do a little manual cleaning you should be able to do it in a day. I also wouldnt run them in vinegar - I would disassemble and soak.

 

[reefiness]

i usually only run them in vinegar for a few hours when i do. I make about a 25% vinegar solution and just let them run.

pretty much its just so the acid is able to dissolve the calcium based deposits such as coralline. You will know you soaked them enough when you are able to basically just wipe the coralline off with your finger. then just grab a brush and scrub away.

theres no need to change the vinegar between different equipment. it will still be acidic which is what you are looking for. although i would suggest rinsing all the gunk off the equipment before returning it to your tank.

 

[UTCReefer]

If you want to be done in 15-20 min and have a lot of buildup you can go to home depot and get a jug of muriatic acid and put a cup or so into a couple gallons of water, just make sure you wear gloves and eye protection and add the acid to the water, not the other way around.
Vinegar is expensive and takes forever to work or at least in comparison to muriatic acid.

 

[CafeReef]

UTCReefer is right, if you want a "quick fix" go with muriatic acid, but like others have said, depending on your "gunkiness" do a 25% vinegar to water, or 50% vinegar to water solution and then let them soak. I usually let mine go overnight, but I suspect 4-6 hours would do just as well. You potentially could do a higher content of vinegar if they are REALLY bad and do all at the same time this time around.

I would get in the habit of doing a monthly soak and clean, one piece of equipment at a time so that your system can keep up and running.

 

[AlSimmons]

Just soak your equipment in pure white vinegar for a few hours and then hit them up with a stiff brush after. When your done you can always throw the vinegar back in the bottle and use it again later.

 

[scooter31707]

I soak things in 100% vinegar for about 1 hour and then go over with a brush, then a good rinse and back in operation. Haven't had any ill effects with equipment or livestock. I do this every 3 months.

 

[joshbrookkate]

I soak things in 100% vinegar for about 1 hour and then go over with a brush, then a good rinse and back in operation. Haven't had any ill effects with equipment or livestock. I do this every 3 months.

Same....

 

[BigEZ77]

Thanks for all the helpful input. I will soak as opposed to running them in any solution. Think I'm gonna try the muriatic acid option...I would assume this option required a really good rinse in rodi water after?

 

[heathlindner25]

If you use older tunze powerheads, don't use acid,ate up my impellers...... I might have mixed it strong, I don't know. I just don't use acid on tunze anymore

 

[BigEZ77]

Thanks Heath, I have a Tunze skimmer. Another couple questions that came to mind...

-Do I need to run the skimmer in RODI water after soaking before running in the tank again again? Not sure if vinegar would do any damage to the tank.

-Can I soak my ATO sensor in vinegar as well? I have a Tunze nano ATO and the plastic casing is getting pretty gunked up.

Thanks,

 

[billdogg]

I routinely use muriatic acid for mine. Don't use it for the impellers - it can easily destroy the magnets. It won't hurt anything plastic at all.

What I do is this:

Fill a 5g bucket just enough to almost cover your largest item with tap water. WEARING EYE PROTECTION AND GLOVES, AND PREFERABLY OUTSIDE, add a quart or so of muriatic acid to the bucket. Carefully submerse the item to be cleaned. There will be lots of foaming and nasty fumes - hence the need to do it OUTSIDE! Allow it to soak for 5-10 minutes or until the foaming stops. Still wearing GLOVES AND EYE PROTECTION, carefully remove the item and rinse it well in tap water - RO/DI is just a waste of perfectly good water. Set the item aside and proceed with the rest of the things that need to be cleaned. If the acid solution is strong enough, you won't have to wipe anything - it will all be magically dissolved!

Now comes time to dispose of the acid water - to neutralize it, slowly pour in baking soda until the foaming stops. You now have a solution with a ~ neutral pH, so dump it someplace (a storm drain works well for this)

I don't have the patience or the time to waste for the vinegar route to work. Not that it won't, but I don't really care to be tied up doing tank maintenance all day long.

hth

DID I MENTION EYE PROTECTION AND GLOVES???

 

[heathlindner25]

Interesting Billdogg, acid destroyed the plastic propeller on my impellers.. they look like plastic ,maybe they are some weird material that acid doesn't like... that or I mixed it too strong..

 

[BigEZ77]

Appreciate all the feedback. Think I'm gonna do vinegar with some elbow grease afterward. In that case, what's good for the skimmer and ATO questions?

 

[CStrickland]

IMO the really strong acids are only necessary for heavy coraline build up that needs to be dissolved. I use a 3:1 ratio of tap water to vinegar and it gets off everything but that hard calcium buildup. I have a feeling that anything that can dissolve that sort of thing is also going to be hard on rubber and plastic over time. Just a superstition.

You don't need to rinse them much at all, at this strength it's not going to have any effect. Do be prepared for your skimmer to need a day or two to break in again, when it's really clean it doesn't build a steady head and sometimes you get microbubbles.

 

[BigEZ77]

10-4, thx CS

 

[UTCReefer]

I usually make up a separate bath with some baking soda added to rinse the parts in after soaking/scrubbing. When im finished i dump the baking soda bath into the acid bath to neutralize it.