Comment

Comment by Dave & Yvonne Story on December 5, 2011 at 12:59pm

Thanks for the heads up on the Muratic acid.

Comment by Dave & Yvonne Story on December 5, 2011 at 12:57pm

I have 2 different kinds of aquarium heaters. Both have an adjustment at the top.

My 13 girls and 2 males are in an outside100 gal tank. I keep it well insulated and I run the temperature warmer to allow for drain from my grow bed. I was mistaken; I have 4 heaters in the 100 gal tank outside. I have 3 heaters in the 300 gal tank in the greenhouse, 2 heaters in the 150 gal tank and 1 heater in with my pair in the house. That is only 10 heaters in operation.

Comment by TCLynx on December 5, 2011 at 7:17am

Muratic acid is only dangerous in that it is a strong acid and you should be careful handling it since the fumes could do you in and if you spill it you can get badly burned and so on.  wear eye protection and gloves and have the hose handy so any splatter can be heavily diluted etc.  They use it for acid washing concrete for doing stained concrete projects and stuff.

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on December 5, 2011 at 6:17am

Dave, that's great! How do you adjust the temperature?

Comment by Dave & Yvonne Story on December 5, 2011 at 3:21am

Dave L,

I wanted to try your idea, but I worried about the electical connections to the heater. I am interested to see how you do. BUT, my 13 400 watt submersible aquarium heaters are working good. But, I am thinking about adding more tanks into my greenhouse. Let me know

Comment by Dave & Yvonne Story on December 5, 2011 at 3:16am

TCLynx,

I had heard about muratic acid, but I thought it was dangerous to use. I used citric acid yesterday with my girls (established grow bed). I will pick-up some muratic acid for the future. Thank you

Comment by Dave Lindstedt on December 4, 2011 at 7:19pm

I saw the idea here first.  Today I was in Home Depot picking up some PVC fittings, when I went down the row with hot water heater replacement elements.  A 1500 watt 110 volt replacement element was $9.95 I then located a 1 inch female threaded union to 1 inch glue union  next I picked up a 1 inch "T" fitting and short length of 1 inch PVC pipe . For under $20 I now have a 1500 watt  tank heater.  Once I get it together I will take a photo.

 

Comment by TCLynx on December 4, 2011 at 6:54pm

I will warn that constant use of acid is not necessarily the best plan for dealing with hard water long term.  Collecting rain water to help balance hard tap water is the option I'm trying to go with though in really difficult situations, an RO filter might be necessary.

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on December 4, 2011 at 5:49pm

Thx, Dave. TXLynx knows everything. I've learned a lot from his posts! And I concur with him on the acid. When we started using muriatic acid it made life so much easier. Just watch how much you use. We use about 1.5 jigger (3 tbls?) for 55 gallons, which brings our SRP water from 8.5 to 6.5.

Comment by TCLynx on December 4, 2011 at 4:26pm

Beware Citric acid can have a harmful effect on bio-filter bacteria.  This might not be a big deal if the bio-filter is extensive and very mature but if your bio-filter is having any trouble keeping up, you may be better off choosing a different acid.  I've used muratic acid without any ill effects to my bio-filters or catfish.

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