Cleaning Tank Mystery: Smart, Safe Plating Advice

Summary for cleaning tank Discussion

The focus keyphrase is "cleaning tank". Mike Grzechowiak asked what goes in the second of two cleaning tanks in a small nickel plating setup; one tank reportedly contained sodium hydride, and he wanted to know the other tank’s contents. In response, the answerer cautioned against guessing and said the right move is to contact the nickel plating solution supplier or a local plating process distributor to inspect the process. He noted that the first tank may have been sodium hydroxide, but said that alone is not a very good cleaner and that a proprietary cleaner would be better. He also explained that, between cleaning and plating, an acid tank is usually used to remove oxide tarnish before plating. The advice is practical but tentative, since the exact chemistry depends on the specific process.