Vinegar Solution
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Jesse_emel
Well-known member
straight no ice!
dogfrog
latezonatus
Do a search on using muriatic acid. Dose the trick just a little faster but you MUST mix it right and use gloves and eye safety glasses
Why use something so strong as muriatic? While it works fast the down side is not good. Storage, spills and it is not good on lettuce. I use white vinegar overnight and just let it sit. Combination of fresh water and vinegar gets rid of odor and build up and pumps skimmers and tanks are better also.
King_Neptune
Skimmer Skuzz
Any vinegar found at the grocery store. I get it in half gallon jugs for under $3
dogfrog
latezonatus
DonW
R.I.P.
Muriatic acid you buy at the hardware store is not that big of deal its only 30% or less. It works much faster and in the long run cheaper than vinegar. The only trick is to add the acid to the water not the water to the acid. Although you probably should wear gloves its not strong enough to really burn your skin when diluted for cleaning.
Don
cyberdeth
Well-known member
lulz on the AV! Yes, you did make me look.
thatguy559
Well-known member
i agree with don and dogfrog i use it all the time and everywhere.
Nana Chloropsis
Well-known member
Most everyone has vinegar around, and diluted white vinegar is also great on cleaning wood floors. I use it full strength, overnight, soaking the etch off of any glass pieces that I can remove (re: MH glass covers)
I know what vinegar is made of, but I don't know what muriatic acid is made of, so am willing to wait a day for results.
Isn't that why they always offer you vinegar when you order fish and chips? Just goes together, right?
I know what vinegar is made of, but I don't know what muriatic acid is made of, so am willing to wait a day for results.
Isn't that why they always offer you vinegar when you order fish and chips? Just goes together, right?
saltwaterfishes
12 Step Zoa Program
Works very well. I usually soak mine for a couple hours in almost full strength, put it back in the tank the same night. I get it from costco....2 big jugs, cheap, last quite a long time.
kenargo
Well-known member
Some plasics will swell with muriatic acid (I've heard Tunze pumps have this problem) and the PH is only slighly lower than vinegar so it doesn't work that much faster. Straight vinegar has a PH of 2.5; plenty low enough to disolve even the most hard calcium given time.
DonW
R.I.P.
Muraiatic acid does not swell tunze pumps or anything Ive ever soaked in it. The ph is lower than vinegar by far. Its closer to 0. PH is a tenfold scale. Vinegar is acetic acid and is weak when diluted in water. Muriatic acid is hydrochloric acid diluted. Both are good options vinegar is more expensive when you consider the amount needed. Muriatic acid is $6 per gallon and goes three time as far as vinegar. I buy it by the case and only pay $4 per gallon and use it everyday to clean my shop floor diluted in my mop bucket.
I think it more the fear factor of the name itself is why people shy away from using muriatic vs vinegar not real life experience.
Don
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kenargo
Well-known member
Tunze disagrees with your statement; as I mentioned I have not tried it but Tunze expressly says that muriatic acid will damage Tunze pumps. I think if statements are to be made that others might read and take as fact that they should be backed by correct information supported by the vendor; risking damage to a pump that is many hundreds of $$ should not be taken so lightly.
To quite Tunze person:
Do not use muriatic acid, it will swell the plastic. Use Vinegar or citric acid.
__________________
Roger Vitko
Tunze USA
