cleaning wavemakers quickly.

mandarinman

mandarinman

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decided to clean my wavemakers as per monthly routine. calcium carbonate buildup in pumps not cool. thought about vinegar. naaah takes too long. i took all four boyu wavemakers and took apart. put in bucket and poured pool acid( hydrocloric acid) left it for a couple of minutes. rinsed them under fresh water for a while and dried off and returned to tank. i rinsed my hands and arms with bicarb powder to neutralise any splashes and i poured the acid down the drain.
 
mandarinman said:
decided to clean my wavemakers as per monthly routine. calcium carbonate buildup in pumps not cool. thought about vinegar. naaah takes too long. i took all four boyu wavemakers and took apart. put in bucket and poured pool acid( hydrocloric acid) left it for a couple of minutes. rinsed them under fresh water for a while and dried off and returned to tank. i rinsed my hands and arms with bicarb powder to neutralise any splashes and i poured the acid down the drain.
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Interesting never thought of that but doesn't the acid make the plastic fragile?
 
There's always a fast way and then a correct way of doing things... be it recommended or not, at the end of the day who's is the correct way? I prefer to do things the old fashioned way, scrub and elbo grease ;)
 
it was good to pour some acid into the hole in pumps and see the acid bubble out any precipitate. the plastic didnt discolour or crack. it is R26 PER 5L versus R36 for descaler for one use. i am sure if i didnt mind waiting i could have used less acid and more water to remove buildup slowly. i also think scratching scraping etc would cause more damage than rinsing in acid based product to dissolve precipitate . anyhow each to his own. it worked for me.
 
i have been told of using a teaspoon of acid for cleaning a skimmer before, so it is an acceptable practice just be careful of little rubbers etc that can be more quickly effected.. but if the the items are quickly submersed and then rinsed i see no harm, they probably stand more chance of failing while operating than being damaged by being cleaned...
 
I left mine in vinegar for a week, and hosed them off. Good as new.

Clicking the hose connector on and opening the tap was a real chore though, I'm not sure I want to go through that again.

I would be concerned about the ferrite impeller magnet in any strong acid...
 
RocketRooster said:
I left mine in vinegar for a week, and hosed them off. Good as new.

Clicking the hose connector on and opening the tap was a real chore though, I'm not sure I want to go through that again.

I would be concerned about the ferrite impeller magnet in any strong acid...
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Hard work hey!!!!!!:whistling:
 
if anyone wants to use pool acid to clean their tank stuff it is good to have a box of bicarbonate of soda handy. rinse the cleaned equipment in a bicarb solution to neutralise the hydrochloric acid and pour the bicarb solution into the bucket with used hydrochloric acid to neutralise it and then dispose of by pouring neutral water down drain
 
I use 1L vinegar to about 15 to 20 litres water to clean my pumps. Let them run in there a couple of hours, 2 or 3, and they are clean enough.
 
Nemos Janitor said:
I use it to clean live rock.
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i have poated a link to this from the zeovit site on masa somewhere when i first saw this practice aswell

cleans all the muck out of the rock and no doube cleans old corraline off of it rendering it good as new...
 
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leslie hempel said:
i have poated a link to this from the zeovit site on masa somewhere when i first saw this practice aswell

cleans all the muck out of the rock and no doube cleans old corraline off of it rendering it good as new...
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vinegar or hydrochloric acid?
 
leslie hempel said:
i have poated a link to this from the zeovit site on masa somewhere when i first saw this practice aswell

cleans all the muck out of the rock and no doube cleans old corraline off of it rendering it good as new...
Click to expand...

Yes i remember that post. Was on RC as well. I don't use Live Rock anymore. Import the dry rock in a container dip in some acid and aiptasia, majano, crab, sponge free reefing if you dip your corals and QT them.

I have tried using it on tunze pumps. not sure if it was the acid or something else but the shielding on the cable where it gos into the pump split. This happened to a few pumps so i stopped using it. Hydrochloric acid
 
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