Muriatic Acid Bath

Killer Karma · Aug 28, 2017

I just used the acid bath on half of my rocks that were covered in texas trash palys and then cleaned them with several rinses of R/O water, then let them soak in R/O water overnight. Are they ok to put back into my tank. My two engineer goby's are going nuts.

Douglas Wattier · Aug 28, 2017

I am in the process of curing rock with just saltwater over a few months. But the process of the bath that i have seen online/youtube, all have added baking soda to neutralize the acid. Did you do that? I would be afraid that just rinsing the acid would leave some pockets of it within the rock itself.

nautical_nathaniel · Aug 28, 2017

Killer Karma said:
I just used the acid bath on half of my rocks that were covered in texas trash palys and then cleaned them with several rinses of R/O water, then let them soak in R/O water overnight. Are they ok to put back into my tank. My two engineer goby's are going nuts.

You'll want to scrub them a bit to get rid of any dead/dying material so it doesn't breakdown in your tank. Be sure to wear eye protection and gloves too! I would also soak them in some saltwater for a couple of days before adding them back into your tank.

Killer Karma · Aug 28, 2017

Douglas Wattier said:
I am in the process of curing rock with just saltwater over a few months. But the process of the bath that i have seen online/youtube, all have added baking soda to neutralize the acid. Did you do that? I would be afraid that just rinsing the acid would leave some pockets of it within the rock itself.

I did add the baking soda to neutralize the acid, there would not be any pockets of acid however as it readily reacts with the live rock. The purpose of the baking soda is so you are not pouring out a massive container of acid.

Killer Karma · Aug 28, 2017

pensacola-aquarist said:
You'll want to scrub them a bit to get rid of any dead/dying material so it doesn't breakdown in your tank. Be sure to wear eye protection and gloves too! I would also soak them in some saltwater for a couple of days before adding them back into your tank.

I'll definitely scrub the heck out of them prior to adding them to the tank, however I was hoping an overnight in R/O would be sufficient to put them back.

Idoc · Aug 28, 2017

Acid bath 10:1 water to acid ratio. Then dump in a big box of baking soda to neutralize the acid.

I rinsed mine with a strong stream of water from my hose to knock off left over organic debri and scrubbed with a brush. Then let sit out in the sun for a couple of days to fully dry... Then all should be dead and gone... ready to use.

I don't know if only dipping them in RO water will be enough to get the stuck on deaf stuff off. A little mechanical scrubbing might be best. The stuff left on the rocks should be dead, but if still present, it's going to decay and result in water parameter changes in your DT.