Using Muriatic Acid??

[lkleung007]

Hi Gang,

I was curious if anyone uses Muriatic Acid (HCl) routinely for lowering pH in their tanks. I have seen Muriatic Acid being sold in hardware stores but am not sure how best to use it.

Also, I have heard that some breeders using pool acid for lowering pH. Is this safe as well??

Thanks for the input,
Lester :)

[daninthesand]

Lester.

When I visited the Wattely hatchery, I noticed several gallon jugs of "acid for pools" on the floor. Upon closer examination the contents was labelled as muriatic acid. Muriatic acid is an older name for hydrochloric acid.

Gabe, who runs the hatchery, uses it on a daily basis to lower the pH (to about 5.5) of the well water they use for their discus. They have huge water vats they premix the acid into and stabilized the ph overnight. The also mix in RO water to get the conductivity down.

I've been told by Gabe to use about 2 to 3 capfulls of the acid in a 55 gallon drum of water and let it rest overnight. Then check the ph. Trial and error on amounts will get you the ph you desire.

I never tried it, having read far too many times that discus don't need low ph to thrive. And the idea of instability of ph (pH crashes) with softer water made me reluctant to play around with my water chemistry. Messing around with acid is not my idea of a routine thing I'd like to get into.

Daniel

[Ardan]

Hi,
Some pool acids are sodium bisulfate. Using it increases the sodium in the water also. Not a good standard practice.


I agree, don't mess with the ph unless absolutely necessary.
Randal wrote a good article about it in the water works. 8) http://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=5;action=display;threadid=6312
hth

[lkleung007]

Thanks Daniel and Ardan for your replies!!

I have to agree that messing with Muriatic Acid is tricky and the risk of pH crash is scary. There are however times when lower pH is of benefit...such as for breeding purposes or even to treat certain infections.

Regards, Lester