using Murinic Acid question

[nightfire76]

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so guys i plan to use Murinic Acid on rock i got from a fellow reefer and if is a pretty good amount of rock....maybe letting it soak in it twice to make sure any po4 is gone....the rock is dead and pretty clean and white so it should work rather fast maybe soaking it over night...changing that water out and doing it for one more night? then soak it again in pure ro/di water and then let it sit in salt water for a month to cycle? i dont care for it to have coraline on it so after it cycles i can place it in the tank? though the thing here is that my 55g already have 4 fish....soon to be 5 and a good amount of coraline covered LR which is covered pretty well in hair algae so i wanted to switch it out with the new rock i let sit and cycle.....is it a good idea if after it cycled to switch it all out at once for how? also the rock i take out of my display i want to use so should i just use acid on it also? i dont see the point in cooking it like normal and wasting saltwater as im on a ghetto budget lol i thought maybe after i took that rock out to do acid on it like i did with the other rock but after that is done i wouldnt have to cycle it and can just place it in the tank and have the rock already there seed it......does all this sound ok? oh and i have a rock oor two in there that dont have much hair on them so would it be ok to just leave those alone or use acid on those just to make sure no po4 spreads from them? thanks people

 

[McTeague]

Ok I am going to assume you are talking about Muratic Acid since as far as I can tell there is no such thing as Murinic Acid.

Anyways, there is no need in this hobby to use anything other than bleach or vinegar 99% of the time one of these two items will suffice.

Also, muratic acid will most likely decompose the rock itself.

If you are trying to remove mineral concretions use vinegar. If you are trying to remove organics like algae use bleach.

What exactly are you trying to accomplish?

 

[Reefmack]

Good advice above. Muriatic is a strong acid and could dissolve a lot of the rock.

 

[nightfire76]

um like i stated...to remove po4...ya say ya only need to use bleach and vinigar but i see many apon many posts saying they use muratic acid and i know it will eat the rock some and again many that have used it also say it barely takes any rock away

 

[BigAl07]

Muriatci Acid is VERY strong. I've used it to removed some NASTY things on glass etc in the past but ONLY as a last resort.

nightfire if you found advice where people are soaking their rock in Muriatic acid and you want to follow THAT advice then by all means go ahead but it's very likely your rock will be ruined.

 

[McTeague]

You are trying to remove phosphates to prevent a recurrence of the hair algae you currently have on your existing live rock correct?

However if you do not change your methods the hair algae will just appear on the new rock after a short time.

Attack the root cause of the excess phosphates. It is most likely the food you are using or the amount of food you are feeding. Add the new rock one or two pieces at a time. Use a toothbrush and/or some emerald crabs to clean your existing rock.

 

[TylerHaworth]

Short and to the point: You need to change your husbandry, not your rock.

 

[nightfire76]

ok i wasnt clear i suppose.....for the longest i was just using tap water....for the last 2 or so months i've been using ro/di water....again i plan on taking the rock out of my tank and adding the new rock that has nothing on it other then it being cycled and then dealing with the rock from my tank that has the hair algae.....no doubt using tap water for so long made this problem and i want to fix it.....pulling my rocks and scrubing it is annoying me now.....so again this rock i have waiting to be cleaned of po4 will go in my tank and the old rock with hair algae on it will be pulled.....im looking to use the acid to get rid of the po4 for sure but if vinegar works then i can use that...i just want to make sure this new rock is po4 free and some say vinegar and others say the acid.....im trying to not waste my time here and get to it is all.....maybe that will clear it up some...thanks guys

 

[nightfire76]

Short and to the point: You need to change your husbandry, not your rock.

easy to say if ya dont know the background

 

[McTeague]

I think bleach will be highly effective in removing the hair algae from the existing rock. I have found that for organic materials a base instead of an acid is the way to go. Soak rocks in strong bleach solution then scrub with stifff brush. Rinse well.

 

[nightfire76]

as i thought of that would that get any po4 out of that rock though?

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

I think you're a little too quick to blame this all on phosphates. Your wording seems to suggest that phosphates are like a disease or a type of algae themselves and other rocks can "catch" phosphates. Not true. Live rock doesn't store phosphates. I dare say it can't.

To store phosphates, the rock would need to have some sort of chemical reaction that would change the rock's particles in such a way that would bind the phosphates. It would then later have to have another chemical reaction to break that bond. If you have algae on your rocks, it's because of the nutrients in the water. Even if your tests read 0 for phosphates and nitrates, that could simply mean the algae is using all of it up. It is possible for there to be water in the rock that is high in phosphates, but a quick rinse of that rock in clean saltwater would get rid of all of it. It would be like anything else in your tank, salt, CA+, MG, etc. If live rock could absorb all that then leech it back out, nobody would be able to keep a tank. It would be a roller coaster.

Your tank chronicle says you started your tank in September of 2009. That means you were using tap water for almost a year before switching to RO/DI. You can't expect a year of work to be undone in 2 months. It's just not possible in a thriving miniature ecosystem.

 

[TylerHaworth]

If the algae is still GROWING, your husbandry is still LACKING, you will have the exact same problem eventually with the new rock. Changing out your rock is entirely unnecessary if not counterproductive to a healthy reef, especially since you state you are on a "ghetto" budget.

Kudos to you using RO/DI water now, that is a major step in the right direction. The algae can, and will, go away if you have a sufficient cleanup crew, a worthy skimmer, proper water changes, and aren't feeding those extra nutrients to the tank... But until you stop feeding the algae, it will continue to grow. Period.

 

[Durwood]

Consider an ATS.

 

[Ssullivan]

i would soak them in ro for a few days and test the water to see if they are leaching po4 before trying to acid wash them, muriatic acid will start to melt the rocks right away and turn them to dust especially if they are not that dense.