Are We Aware Of The Air We Breathe ???
In most cases NO, we take for granted our daily intake of air, and our natural human filtration systems lets us do just that. We depend on Industry to filter the aerosols produced by the manufacturing process and anti-pollution systems in our automobiles to work properly so that the air we breath is free of pollution. This is far from being a reality. For most populated areas all over the world, air pollution is far above environmental standards. If we look at our every day environment and stop to notice what we are adding through house hold cleaners, air freshiners, carpet deodorizers, bug sprays, hair sprays, pet dander, tobacco smoke, smog heating systems leakage, molds, bacteria, and every day dust, only to mention a few, we would all be astonished. Not only are we breathing these pollutants, but they are being washed into our aquarium water.
In Industry, the most popular means of removing pollutants from discharge air streams is to force the polluted air though a defuser into an atomized water stream. This process has many different configurations, but all are the same in that the air forms a bubble in the water stream. This bubble of polluted air then gives off any solid matter to the water surrounding it. When the air bubble breaks free of the scrubbing water, it leaves behind approx. 90 % of the original pollutants. We can relate this process to our Aquarium air supply. We force air at some low pressure through defusers (air stones) to form a bubble which then travels through our aquarium water releasing oxygen and also scrubbing any pollutants off into the aquarium water.
Aquarium air pumps or compressors work at very low pressures thus making filtration very difficult on the intake side of the pump. In small pumps, felt type intake filters are used to protect the internal mechanisms but do little to filter out small particles ( less then 25 micron ) from the air supply.
Filtering the discharge air is much more efficient but has been difficult to do effectively on low pressure pumps. There are discharge air filters that are capable of removing very small particles (0.2 microns), but they are for high pressure air systems (above 20 psi or 1.4 bars). Most discharge air filters sold today for aquarium use are 5-10 micron filters with very little surface area which results in fast clogging. Contributing to the clogging of these filters is moisture which in itself carries a number of pollutants.
Moisture in the air stream is very difficult to remove without air dryers and electronic devices. Once the filter media as become saturated to the moisture level in the air stream, a fluid path is established through the filter media. Moisture will carry organics ( carbon compounds ), colloids ( submicroscopic particles ), and odor through most filter media. Specially designed extruded Carbon filters will remove most of these properties so the moisture is free of pollutants.
A special Aquarium air filter system as been designed and tested to approach all of the possible problems with filtering low pressure air delivery systems. This system employs a combined three-stage filter package with large surface area to hold down pressure drops and for extended life. Stage one filters out the large particles. Stage two is a high capacity extruded carbon filter. Stage three is a multi-staged, multi-layer micron filter element with a very large surface area ( Stages 1 and 2 are combined ). All elements used in this package are FDA approved products.
What can you expect from this type of filter system ?
• Cleaner, clearer water
• Higher oxygen levels
• Increased biological filter capacity
• Cleaner mechanical filter media
• Less surface water tension which increases out gassing Increased Air Stone life
• Peace of mind that you and your fish have cleaner air to breath.
