Cleaning white encrustation, stray pink coralline, etc....

Sk8r · 09/18/2020, 08:25 PM

...including old tanks and equipment with watermark. And pumps.

The simplest of all is white vinegar. You can get it economically at Costco. Some situations can be solved with a vinegar water solution, but when you've got a pricey piece of equipment that's been stopped or crudded up so it won't work, a gallon of vinegar straight is a cheap fix by comparison.

The other nice thing is --- even if a little gets trapped in your pump and sent into your tank, it's no big deal. Vinegar is benign so far as your reef is concerned, in tiny amounts, so no big sweat for washing it up---just a light tapwater rinse on newly processed equipment. If any straight vinegar hit your sump, it'd affect ph, but not catastrophically unless it was a LOT of vinegar.

Keep some on hand. If a pump stalls, just let it sit submerged in white vinegar for 24 hours. Might fix it. It also is great for getting the calcium deposit off your sink faucets and showers. Same stuff: it dissolves calcium carbonate.

09/18/2020, 08:25 PM	#1
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Cleaning white encrustation, stray pink coralline, etc.... ...including old tanks and equipment with watermark. And pumps. The simplest of all is white vinegar. You can get it economically at Costco. Some situations can be solved with a vinegar water solution, but when you've got a pricey piece of equipment that's been stopped or crudded up so it won't work, a gallon of vinegar straight is a cheap fix by comparison. The other nice thing is --- even if a little gets trapped in your pump and sent into your tank, it's no big deal. Vinegar is benign so far as your reef is concerned, in tiny amounts, so no big sweat for washing it up---just a light tapwater rinse on newly processed equipment. If any straight vinegar hit your sump, it'd affect ph, but not catastrophically unless it was a LOT of vinegar. Keep some on hand. If a pump stalls, just let it sit submerged in white vinegar for 24 hours. Might fix it. It also is great for getting the calcium deposit off your sink faucets and showers. Same stuff: it dissolves calcium carbonate. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.