Citric Acid Bath! Whole Aquarium!

Vahanyos · Nov 10, 2020

Hey guys

Just cleaned everything out of my tank except for freshwater and my equipment. Plan to do a citric bath to clean everything up and rinse, and restart.

1. How much citric acid should I add? 42g display total maybe like 48g with sump

2. Is it okay to add citric acid directly to aquarium? Will it have any negative effects on my tank, like the silicone etc?

Any advice or direction to a thread would be helpful. Tried searching but didn’t really find anything.

Thanks!!

gentlefish · Nov 10, 2020

That’s interesting. In principle citric acid should dissolve calcium buildup, yet then dry to a powder. So I’d be concerned towards those residuals. Sure it could be washed out.
That would be the advantage of vinegar(acetic acid) or bleach. It evaporates in ventilated spaces.

Vahanyos · Nov 10, 2020

gentlefish said:
That’s interesting. In principle citric acid should dissolve calcium buildup, yet then dry to a powder. So I’d be concerned towards those residuals. Sure it could be washed out.
That would be the advantage of vinegar(acetic acid) or bleach. It evaporates in ventilated spaces.

the aquarium has bryopsis and I was told a citric acid bath will pretty much kill anything in the tank so I can have a nice fresh restart with new rock and everything.

gentlefish · Nov 10, 2020

I would use bleach then. The ultimate re-start button.

Vahanyos · Nov 10, 2020

gentlefish said:
I would use bleach then. The ultimate re-start button.

Hm... I actually already have the citric acid circulating in there. Do you think I can kill everything with the citric acid or should i pour some bleach in there too?

gentlefish · Nov 10, 2020

Vahanyos said:
Hm... I actually already have the citric acid circulating in there. Do you think I can kill everything with the citric acid or should i pour some bleach in there too?

No, let me repeat no. Do not mix those. Ever.