acid bath and the after math

[canadianbudz604]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

What acid did you use ?
And you say you used 70 acid to 30 water ?
Hydrochloric acid dissolves inorganic stuff, so it strips all the minerals

Muriatic acid from Rona. And sorry 70% water to 30% acid. Not sure what I did but it didn't work well

[Coral Hoarder]

How long did you do it for?

And I had live rock the first time Nd dry rock Tonga branch and shelf the second

[FishyFishy!]

Apparently the stuff from Rona is very diluted. You need to buy the pure stuff from a pool/spa store. Mine worked absolute wonders. That was The best decision I have made in regards to setting up a new system.

[Scythanith]

Originally Posted by Masonjames

Why do you need to soak after the acid bath? What's the purpose?

Rinse it well and it is ready for the tank.

All the acid bath does is cook off the outer layer. There is much more to old dry LR than the outer layer. If it were my tank and all my money going into it I'd want to make sure I had clean, non phosphate leaching rock. The only way to do that would be to put it into water and test it frequently. Once it tests clear (may be as soon as a week or two) then get it into saltwater. Put it straight in and you may find yourself battling algae issues. Then again you may not, most dry live rock is a roll of the dice.

Just my 2 cents.

[Masonjames]

What condition was the rock in prior to the acid bath?
If there were any orgaincs that were present on the rock the acid will have no real effect on those orgaincs. Even at 100% the acid just isn't going to cut it with organics. This is why bleach is recommended prior to the acid treatment. The bleach is done to prepare the rock for the acid. So what you may be seeing is orgianc material that is still present.
Now if the rock was free of organics, you may just be seeing mineral deposits.

The process is so very simple. And does not need to be made more complicated.
Soak the rock in bleach for 24 hrs. Does not even require diluting. Rinse well when done.
Let rock completely dry.
Treat with acid. Strength of acid will be based on the density of the rock in question. This is up to the user to determine by trail and error. Soak it, bathe it, dump it directly on straight from the bottle. It don't matter. Figure out what works best for the rock in question. Rinse well and it is ready for the tank.
There is no need to neutralize the acid, there is no need for hours of soaking in the acid. Calcium carbonate is an acidic nuetralizer. The rock starts to neutralize the acid as soon as it comes in contact. The reaction happens rather quickly and the acid will be neutralized rather quickly.
Calcium carbonate is used in many industries as a acidic neutralizer. The chemical equation is easily found online.
There is no possiblity of bleach and or acid contaminating the system if the rock is allowed to completely dry after using the bleach, and a good rinse after the acid.
The only real investment in time to do the proccess is soaking the rock in bleach for 24 hrs, and letting the rock completely dry out post bleach. Everything else even the acid treatment should take minutes not hours.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Masonjames

There is no need to neutralize the acid,

I would only disagree with this part. I soaked rock in acid many years ago, and after 12 hours, removed all my clean rock. I then added a large box of baking soda and ended up with something resembling my kid's volcano science project
For the cost of baking soda vs the impact to dumping acid into the sewer system, I'd do this as a required "just in case" step.

[Masonjames]

Originally Posted by Scythanith

All the acid bath does is cook off the outer layer. There is much more to old dry LR than the outer layer. If it were my tank and all my money going into it I'd want to make sure I had clean, non phosphate leaching rock. The only way to do that would be to put it into water and test it frequently. Once it tests clear (may be as soon as a week or two) then get it into saltwater. Put it straight in and you may find yourself battling algae issues. Then again you may not, most dry live rock is a roll of the dice.

Just my 2 cents.

Take a look at the crystal lattice structure of calcite. You can see where the calcium group sticks out from the surface. Po4 will attach to c++ at this point. It is bound at the surface.

[Masonjames]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

I would only disagree with this part. I soaked rock in acid many years ago, and after 12 hours, removed all my clean rock. I then added a large box of baking soda and ended up with something resembling my kid's volcano science project
For the cost of baking soda vs the impact to dumping acid into the sewer system, I'd do this as a required "just in case" step.

True enough and good point. May be good form to follow up with. Personally I have never witnessed any real further reaction beyond a relatively short period of time with or without the addition of a nuetrilizing agent, however if your dumping in a place where leaching into water systems is a possibility then I would agree that users should be taking further steps to ensure the acid has in fact been completely nuetralized. However dumping in such a location should also be avoided.