Question for Randy

Buddah001 · Jul 30, 2018

@Randy Holmes-Farley I am in the process of cleaning my rocks and kind of starting over. I’m using muratic acid and letting them soak for 15 mins in a 10:1 ratio. The first batch I used baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)to neutralize the muratic acid bath. Yesterday I bought sodium carbonate thinking it was the same thing but after reading more into it I have realized it is not. Will the sodium carbonate be ok to use to neutralize the muratic acid or is it not safe to use?

Brew12 · Jul 30, 2018

Buddah001 said:
@Randy Holmes-Farley I am in the process of cleaning my rocks and kind of starting over. I’m using muratic acid and letting them soak for 15 mins in a 10:1 ratio. The first batch I used baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)to neutralize the muratic acid bath. Yesterday I bought sodium carbonate thinking it was the same thing but after reading more into it I have realized it is not. Will the sodium carbonate be ok to use to neutralize the muratic acid or is it not safe to use?

It is safe to use and will work just fine. The byproducts of the reaction leave you with Sodium Chloride, Carbon Dioxide, and Water. Take it slow, just like you should do any time you are neutralizing an acid, and it will likely work better than Sodium Bicarbonate.