Cleaning Salt buildup of tanks/trays

[Shithappens]

OK I stripped my system down and found once dry my top tray has salt all over the place !!!

 

I have started to use a paint scraper to clean it off as water doesnt seem to disolve it wtf is the go as far as I know water should disolve salts ive even tried hot water to little effect!!

 

What do every one use to clean this crap off as im tempted to replace the trays etc just to get rid of it (Cant sleep well leaving it there hehehe)

 

Help Im out of elbow grease!!

[tony2wheelsgood]

run your system with a strong solution of phosphoric acid (pH down), it'll clean your drip nozzles too. don't splash your jeans(or your eyes).

 

rinse well!

Edited April 11, 2007 by tony2wheelsgood

[moKing]

I use a strong mix of oxyplus (H2O2) and water, then use a pot scrubbing brush to apply and clean. I mix this up in the tank and scrub my pots while i soak all my plumbing in the mixture. Rinse every thing well when you finish!

 

Best of Luck

 

moKing

[thc24]

peroxide and a green scourer not the cheep kind that drop fibers everywhere i use 90cent valida dishwashing brick.

 

 

plain water should do the trick but youd be there all day, soak with peroxide for a few minutes or when it stops bubbling then scrub clean then rinse well. Let dry any spots you missed will show and do again if need.

[Indycar]

I've been using a bit of old nylon flyscreen mesh. Prolly about 100mm square piece. Everytime i do a rez change i give everything the once over then rinse.

 

Also if the build up get too much inside, you can scrunch it up and push it thru with a bit of heavy gauge wire.

 

[southerncross]

Hydrochloric acid, which you can buy from any pool shop will do the job, fill your system with water, turn it on , dump in a couple of litres of (HCl) and let the pump and water do the rest for a couple of hr's. Make sure that your system is a little above normal level to get everything and then flush well with clean water after dumping the cleaning mix. Preferable not down the drain. Also dump the cleaning water and then flush again as any residue could afect your PH levels.

[Pam]

Gee, and I've always just used vinegar on the stuff. Works on the coffee pot.

I've heard that lemon juice and salt creates hydrochloric acid, so lemon juice may melt the stuff as well.

Vinegar is acetic acid. Plain old white vinegar.

[Al B. Fuct]

I've in the past tried the stuff for removing mineral deposits from taps & sinks (CLR, some other bathroom cleaners). Worked OK with a bit of scrubbing with a green scrubber pad (Scotch-Brite), but these bath cleaners have some evil and foul stuff in them that couldn't possibly be plant safe, surely some flavour of moderately strong acid as suggested by a cpl ppl above. No worries I guess if it's all rinsed off.

 

Will have to try vinegar per Granny's suggestion and perhaps also straight pHDown solution, which is a phosphoric acid soln, but not particularly strong.

 

Granny, not sure about lemon juice & salt (presuming you mean mineral salts as in nutes, not just NaCl table salt) forming HCl. Lemon juice is mainly water and citric acid. If you react the citric acid with a base or alkaline substance, I don't think you'll get another acid. Can research if you like.

[Pam]

Gee... You know I'm not sure. I probably read that in some silly womens mag a long time ago! I know that salt and lemon cleans copper REALLY well. But I usually stick with the vinegar it does a nice job on the hard water crud we have here.