muriatic acid - rock wash? Need advice before I take out the neighborhood

[swffan]

I received some rock that came from a "crashed" tank. Not sure what made the tank crash. I believe it sat dry for well over a year in the sand and salt. Pretty sure once the tank crashed, they just let everything sit and "rot". The rock was bone dry when I got it. Washed off the sand and salt and let it sit in some Rubbermaid containers for a day, then changed that water and did that again for another 2 days. Noticed the rock starting to smell. Put the rock in the bathtub (in the spare bathroom that goes unused) and rinsed it off several times. Then let it sit in a tub of water for 2 days. Water ended up draining out of the tub one day when I went to work and I came home to the smell of death in the house!

 

Decided to toss some bleach in the water to get rid of the smell, that has worked but now I need to get this rock to the point it can be put into a tank at some point soon. Not an established tank! I've read the thread on RC (club thread) on muriatic acid wash.

First off, where can I get this stuff? I called Namco pools and they don't sell it. Before I get the wrong stuff I figured I'd ask here first.

 

 

Second, I want to make sure I don't make a toxic cloud and wipe out the neighborhood too. (Need help here) So, I should rinse the bleach off with a ton of dechlorinated water. I have some Prime or generic Petco dechlorinator I can use. Once that is free of the bleach smell then I can use this acid? How diluted should I use this stuff? 10:1? I assume this stuff must be done outside(...live in a condo with limited outside space)? Can I use a regular rubbermade/Sterlite tub? There is a good bit of rock here, probably 3 of the 20/30g tubs full. From there let the rock sit in this acid wash for an hour or two with a powerhead? Then add a ton of baking soda to neutralize the acid? Rinse the rock good and let it dry. I'm sure I'll do the rinse and dry step a few times for piece of mind. Then I should be good to start this rock in saltwater?

 

Am I on the right path or is this a suicide/homicide by acid mission?

[BowieReefer84]

Eco rock is $2.xx a pound. I would throw in the towel and buy some new dry rock if I were you... If that rock ever had copper used you are setting yourself up for a lot of heat ache.

 

Muriatic Acid is sold at lowes/home depot.

Edited October 13, 2012 by BowieReefer84

[Origami]

Muriatic acid can be found at Lowe's in their paint department in gallon jugs. Home Depot sells something like a "safe" acid. I'm sure that it's got something added, so I buy mine at Lowe's. It's very, very powerful stuff. Know how to handle it before using it. It can burn your lungs, skin, eyes, etc. Nasty and dangerous stuff. That said, I normally have a gallon or two at home for use in this hobby.

 

I suspect that the rock you had still had a lot of organic material covering it and that's why, when it was rehydrated and started rotting again, it smelled so badly. It probably needs a very thorough scrub and needs to cure for some time. An acid wash might be OK, too. I've heard of using an acid wash to etch rock that might be contaminated with copper or phosphate precipitates. Just be sure that you let the rock soak for a day or so in clear water after the acid wash. Any acid will be neutralized by the rock anyway, which will have a tendency to dissolve if the environment is too acidic.

[swffan]

Eco rock is $2.xx a pound. I would throw in the towel and buy some new dry rock if I were you... If that rock ever had copper used you are setting yourself up for a lot of heat ache.

 

Muriatic Acid is sold at lowes/home depot.

 

At $2.xx a pound x 100+ pounds - I think I will take my chance for now with this acid. If that fails, hopefully I'm just out $20 or so for acid and not and arm, eye or lung too.

 

 

Muriatic acid can be found at Lowe's in their paint department in gallon jugs. Home Depot sells something like a "safe" acid. I'm sure that it's got something added, so I buy mine at Lowe's. It's very, very powerful stuff. Know how to handle it before using it. It can burn your lungs, skin, eyes, etc. Nasty and dangerous stuff. That said, I normally have a gallon or two at home for use in this hobby.

 

I suspect that the rock you had still had a lot of organic material covering it and that's why, when it was rehydrated and started rotting again, it smelled so badly. It probably needs a very thorough scrub and needs to cure for some time. An acid wash might be OK, too. I've heard of using an acid wash to etch rock that might be contaminated with copper or phosphate precipitates. Just be sure that you let the rock soak for a day or so in clear water after the acid wash. Any acid will be neutralized by the rock anyway, which will have a tendency to dissolve if the environment is too acidic.

 

I'll do a little more homework before I actually use this stuff. My friend redoes in-ground pools, I'm sure he's familiar with the stuff too and may even have it. I'll have to ask him. I'll check out Lowes too since i have a trip planned there this afternoon. I'm using the acid method specifically to "remove" any copper that may have been used and of course the phosphates. I would imagine it should remove almost anything there that is not there naturally correct?

[zygote2k]

if you bleached it, you're good to go.

A hammer would be the next step- may as well pound it into sand.

[swffan]

IF there was copper used in the tank and I just stick with the bleach would the water test positive for copper instantly (once put in saltwater) or would it take a while for the copper to "seep" out? Same with the phosphates. I'm just using worst case scenario. The rock could be fine for all I know, since I have the time I'd rather try to eliminate any chances of problems with it now.

[Jim]

Swffan, where are you located? I've done this process a few times.

[swffan]

pretty far from Alexandria - I'm north of Baltimore

[Origami]

The acid wash etched away the calcium carbonate of the reef rock. Anything embedded or precipitated on the rock will either be loosed or dissolved.

[steveoutlaw]

All the rock in my tank came from a tank that hadn't been taken care of for about a year. I took all the rock I could fit in a large brute trashcan, poured a gallon of bleach in and filled the rest with water and let it soak for a day. Took it out and let it dry outside for a week.......this lets the bleach turn to chlorine and evaporate. Put it back in fresh water with dechlorinator for a week, changing the water every day. Then I put it into saltwater with a lid on it and let it cook for a month.

 

Your rock will be really white, but it will kill anything that's on there.

[Steve175]

I agree that physical removal of the stuff will really expedite the process for you: either scrub the heck out of it with a metal brush or use a pressure washer. I use muriatic often and it's pretty safe IME as long as you don't get it on your skin/eyes (in fact, although not advised, I don't even wear gloves anymore because I use it so much - and rinse it quickly of I splash a bit on my skin - it burns but does bot blister/breakdowb skin IME). I have never used it on rock. Part of the economic calculation to just abort and buy new should include unexplained loss of fish and/or corals later in the process.