Muriatic acid help

[nightfire]

hey guys i got some rock for my tank.....it has had po4 in it and i want to get rid of it so i want to try Muriatic acid on it.....the rock is white and dead, nothing on it so i thought i'd do the acid....now please dont give me any links to long winded threads cause i've read some and frankly made my head spin so much i never finished reading them lol

1. how long should it sit in the acid, 20 - 30 minutes?
2.take it out of that and soak it in ro di water for how long
3. should i test for po4 right after that or repete those steps once or twice more?
4. when it reads 0 or close to 0 po4 then what, soak in water or let it sit out?
5. in my display my rock has hair algae on it, no doubt because of po4 so the rock i just cleaned with the acid and is now ready should i then cycle it and then put it in the tank and then take the rock from the display out and cook that or is there something else i can do.....as far as po4 in my display i think it is coming down due to me now using ro di water vs tap water that i was using before....thanks

 

[Rovuma]

I am not sure hydrochloric acid (muriatic) dissolves phosphate, but calcium. I believe nitric acid removes phosphates.

 

[oscar.millan]

Muratic does remove phosphates, when I've done this I've left it over night with a weak solution, drained the container and fill again with water for a few days.

Hope this helps,

0scar M.

 

[bertoni]

The muriatic acid removes phosphate from live rock by dissolving the surface layers of the calcium carbonate. Of course, that's assuming that the interior portion of the live rock has less phosphate than the outside, which is likely to be the case with aquarium rock.

I would add 1 part acid to 10 parts water (never add water to acid), and let the rock sit in the mixture for 20-30 minutes, then rinse the live rock. This procedure should be done outdoors or in a very highly ventilated area, since the fumes are dangerous. I'd wear arm-length gloves and goggles. Muriatic acid should be handled carefully and kept away from kids.

 

[nightfire]

thank you bertoni....after that what would be the best thing to do....let it sit in regular ro di water and test it and if it reads near 0 po4 it is good to go or do more rinsing with ro di water and also i guess i will have to cure it being that my current rock in the tank needs cooking too so is there a faster way of making it cure or just have to bite the bullet and wait a month or so?

 

[bertoni]

I'd try a soak for a while in some RO/DI water.

There's no way to speed up the curing process, although it'll mostly be a bacterial growth process, since the rock itself will be clean.

 

[oscar.millan]

bertoni,

good advice, spot on, glad you had the safety talk as well. kudos to bertoni.

 

[nightfire]

maybe seed it with a bit of food in there?

 

[bertoni]

When you're ready to use it, you could put it in saltwater with a pump and a heater, and a bit of food.

 

[nightfire]

yea i figured i'd do it as if a regular tank cycle...tried looking for it at walmart and nothing

 

[poolkeeper1]

Mario, As much Po4 that rock had in it (Off the Charts) In a 240 with 0 TDS new water it may be a good idea to test for Po4 before you go to the Cycle stage. I would take one piece and let it sit in Saltwater for a day then test the water for Po4, And see what you get then proceed from there. If it still reads a lot of Po4 you may need to redo the acid until it tests 0. JMHO No sense in doing all the work of cycling until your sure the Po4 is gone.
Bill