marco rocks reef saver and citric acid

Rython · Apr 2, 2020

I bleached some of my old reef saver for a few weeks and then soaked them in tap water. I noticed the lawn guy was out spraying weed killer near my rock buckets. I decided I wanted to do a little more cleaning just in case and dosed citric acid. I don't keep Muratic. It didn't occur to me until later that there may be a reason I've never heard of anyone doing that. Like a chemical reaction making the rock useless reason.

Do I have anything to worry about?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 3, 2020

It may bind to the rock surface pretty strongly (after some dissolution), but the worst that will do is provide some organic carbon for bacteria.

It might actually reduce the likelihood of calcium carbonate precipitation on the rock surfaces.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 3, 2020

This is the kind of effect I meant by the second sentence. it is not something to worry about:

Selective inhibition of aragonite growth by citrate and isocitrate at moderate supersaturations, as measured by an optical-microscope flow-cell assay

Selective inhibition of aragonite growth by citrate and isocitrate at moderate supersaturations, as measured by an optical-microscope flow-cell assay

An optical flow-cell assay was developed which allowed for simultaneous measurement of calcite and aragonite growth under conditions of constant concentrations of constituent ions and growth-modifying additives. Using this assay, it was determined that L-citrate and D,L-isocitrate selectively...

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