Muriatic acid soak to clean tank?

[reefer_madness_01]

I disassembled a frag tank (70 gallons) that has a fair amount of coraline algae built up that I'd like to get rid of. I have some muriatic acid from Home Depot that I would like to use instead of buying tons of vinegar. I figured I would fill it up with tap water and add the appropriate amount of acid, turn on the pumps, let it run for a day or two then drain it. Anyone have any experience with this? How much acid should I add to 70 gallons? Any other tips? Or is vinegar the safer way to go?

 

[PatW]

Muriatic acid is just a trade name for Hydrochloric acid. It is a strong acid. A strong acid is nearly all in the acidic state. Vinegar is a weak acid and most is not in the acidic state. I do not know how much coralline build up you have. But as a starting point, I would suggest you make a wild guess at the volume of it and add about double that amount of muriatic acid. Alternatively, you could make a 10 percent solution of HCl and slosh it around over the coralline and scrub with a plastic scrub brush. It should eat it up pretty fast.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I usually dilute 1 part acid into 10 parts fresh water to rapidly clean pumps and such. If you want to fill the tank, maybe try 1/2 gallon added to 70 gallons of fresh water and see if that goes fast enough.

Be careful with the acid to not get it on yourself and especially not in your eyes.

Vinegar is safer but much slower, even full strength.

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

I don't know about using muriatic acid. I used vinegar to clean my 55 that was caked in coraline and it was easy to do. I only used to jugs of vinegar, razor blade and water. It worked well for me.

 

[vic67]

If you use a spray bottle to apply the vinegar much less is needed.