How to safely remove scilica buildup from a tank?

[ianjirka]

I have a new tank that I'm working on. I ran a plumbing test for a few days with tap water -- not wanting to run the RO/DI enough to get 300g of water I was going to dump in a few days anyway.

The thing I didn't think about is silicate buildup during this time. There was some left behind from evaporation. It's unsightly

What's the best way to clean it? If it were my shower door, I'd use something like Spot-X, but don't really want to do that inside my aquarium.

Will this dissolve in RO/DI water? My guess is it will, but it will take a really long time to do so. Any other recommendations for removal? I also don't want to scratch the glass

Thanks much,

-Ian

 

[Tat2demon]

Probably just a good rubdown with vinegar and water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Why do you think it is silicate?

 

[Dr. Reef]

3 days is not enough to have silicate deposits from evaporation in a tank. in my opinion. it could be somthing else. vinegar water and scrub will take it out.

 

[kzooreefer]

I'll ask too. Why do you think its silcates as they are rather hard to precipiate out? Silicates don't dissolved in most acids including vinegar, you have to use hydrofluoric acid. This is one of the standard tests to determine if something is a silicate.

 

[disc1]

I'm not seeing what makes you think this is silicate and not just regular old hard water stain like in the bath-tub.

 

[ianjirka]

I'm not seeing what makes you think this is silicate and not just regular old hard water stain like in the bath-tub.

Thanks everyone.

My assumption based on vinegar not working well (based on experience with cleaning my shower). Maybe my expectation for what vinegar should achieve is wrong. I'll try with more elbow grease.

I should also have a test for scilicate arriving today, so I can actually test my water and see what the concentration is like. If it's not scilicate that'll be good news.

Does scilicate show up on a TDS meter (like Ca/Mg will?). My TDS reads ~150 prior to the RO/DI.

Thanks much,

-Ian

 

[disc1]

Silicate doesn't precipitate from water. Well the water-glass reaction, but were talking about tap water here. If vinegar isn't dissolving it, it might not be calcium carbonate, it may be lime which doesn't just wipe away like the stuff that precipitates out of the saltwater in the tank.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

How long did straight vinegar sit on it?

 

[ianjirka]

How long did straight vinegar sit on it?

Not long enough I'm guessing Basically wet a towel, scrub for a bit. Your question implies I should apply it like a compress (since it's on a vertical surface), to hold the vinegar in contact for a longer period of time. How long are we talking about?

Haven't gotten around to doing more with this -- we're now painting the room : "Honey, if you want to paint the room, do it *before* the water goes in..."

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The question implies that calcium carbonate is slow to dissolve even soaking in straight vinegar. It can take hours. People cleaning pumps this way often soak them overnight. If you tip the aquarium on its side, perrhaps you can soak one pane overnight and see what that does.

Muriatic acid diluted 1 part acid into 10 parts tap water is much faster, taking only a few minutes to dissolve thin CaCO3 coatings. I’d try that before resorting to anything else. Be sure to use gloves and safety glasses, and don’t breathe the concentrated fumes that come out of the bottle.

 

[ianjirka]

The question implies that calcium carbonate is slow to dissolve even soaking in straight vinegar. It can take hours. People cleaning pumps this way often soak them overnight. If you tip the aquarium on its side, perrhaps you can soak one pane overnight and see what that does.

Muriatic acid diluted 1 part acid into 10 parts tap water is much faster, taking only a few minutes to dissolve thin CaCO3 coatings. I'd try that before resorting to anything else. Be sure to use gloves and safety glasses, and don't breathe the concentrated fumes that come out of the bottle.

Thanks Randy, much appreceated. I've never worked with Muriatic acid before, but if it works that much more rapidly, I'll give it a shot.

Cheers,

-Ian

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

:thumbsup:

Good luck and let us know what works out.

 

[ianjirka]

:thumbsup:

Good luck and let us know what works out.

So, the box store had two kinds -- regular and "safer". "Safer" has a lower "fumes" than the regular one. "safer" was noticibly heavier for the same liquid volume.

With a toddler in the house I'd rather get the "safer" one, but I also don't want to contaminate my tank (though with a good rinsing it's probably not a practical issue.)

Anyone have experience with/know what else is in this stuff? The MSDS didn't provide anything useful (to me).

http://www.wmbarr.com/product.aspx?catid=99&prodid=206

Thanks much (again)

-Ian

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The safer one may just already be diluted for you, although I can't tell by how much. That doesn't fit with your heavier comment, however. More concentrated will be heavier. I can't tell if they add other things too.

 

[ianjirka]

The safer one may just already be diluted for you, although I can't tell by how much. That doesn't fit with your heavier comment, however. More concentrated will be heavier. I can't tell if they add other things too.

After poking around a bit, Kleenstrip "safer" seems to be a combination of dilution + buffering. Acid Magic advertises the same strength as regular Muriatic acid, but again doesn't describe the buffering agents.

I'll stick to the regular stuff since we know that works. Looking forward to this weekend, painting was completed last night, so back to work on the tank :-D

-Ian

 

[ianjirka]

:thumbsup:

Good luck and let us know what works out.

Took me a while to get around to cleaning -- ended up doing a longer FW run after making some adjustments. Wanted to get comfortable with it running unattended before getting ready to put critters in. Looks like I'm good to go here soon

Anyway, the Muriatic acid did the trick, and fast too. That's one for the toolbox.

Thanks again,

-Ian

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

:thumbsup:

Good to hear.

Happy Reefing.