cooking live rock hydrochloric acid

Reefcrazed417 · Mar 23, 2015

What is a suitable container to use to do this◆ I know it's some kind of plastic

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 24, 2015

A salt bucket is fine. Polyethylene and polypropylene are good choices.

Don't use full strength muriatic acid. Dilute one part of the the acid into 10 parts of fresh water, and be careful to not spill or splash the acid onto yourself and especially not get it into your eyes.

Reefcrazed417 · Mar 25, 2015

Thanks what about a live rock tub?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 25, 2015

Reefcrazed417 said:
Thanks what about a live rock tub?

Depends on what it is made of, but it is likely OK.

Reefcrazed417 · Mar 25, 2015

OK thanks for the advice

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 26, 2015

You're welcome.

Happy Reefing.

wangspeed · Mar 26, 2015

I used a polyethylene container that is now my saltwater container. Do it outside on concrete. Not sure what it would do to asphalt. Randy?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 26, 2015

Probably smell bad on asphalt. I'm not sure how damaging it would be.

glb · Mar 26, 2015

So what do you do after the acid bath?

Skynyrd Fish · Mar 26, 2015

I usually order a pizza and crank up some Hendrix! Lol.

To answer your question:

I rinsed my rock with a hose. I then inspected all rock and removed anything that was still on it with needle nose pliers. I soaked mine in ro/di water for a day then changed all water. I then added salt water, a heater and a raw shrimp (placed in a net). I also placed a power head. I removed the shrimp after 48 hours. I'll do a 100% water change at three weeks. Then I'll test for po4. I won't use the rock until po4 is gone. The acid bath should make this a much quicker process.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 27, 2015

If there is any acid present in the solution remaining, you can neutralize it with baking soda, washing soda, or calcium carbonate.

Rinse the rock well. I'd personally not use a hose due to potential for copper, but it may be OK.

Skynyrd Fish · Mar 27, 2015

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
If there is any acid present in the solution remaining, you can neutralize it with baking soda, washing soda, or calcium carbonate.

Rinse the rock well. I'd personally not use a hose due to potential for copper, but it may be OK.

I never thought of residual copper. My city water is pretty clean here, but I'm going to test it!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 27, 2015

Skynyrd Fish said:
I never thought of residual copper. My city water is pretty clean here, but I'm going to test it!

The copper comes from your own pipes and hose fittings, not the water supply reservoir.

Reefcrazed417 · Mar 27, 2015

Right because copper leaches

Reefcrazed417 · Mar 27, 2015

Will cooking live rock remove leaching medications from rock?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 28, 2015

Dissolving the outer surface should remove almost everything, but it is possible some may rebind to the newly created surfaces.

Is there a particular med you are concerned with?