Trapper
October 17th 04, 05:12 PM
Hi folks,
I'm thinking of setting up a planted tank, and in the course of doing
my research I've found what seems to be some consensus about the
utility of UV sterilizers to help keep algae at bay.
Folks seem to think they're useful, and that the downside of UV iron
oxidation is tolerable. That seems sensible, since iron compounds can
easily and cheaply be added to compensate for oxidative denial of Fe
to the system.
A brief question is as to whether I have properly digested the wisdom
on this subject. If my basic conclusions above are wrong, I'd love to
know how I ought to be thinking on this.
This led me to an idea for an alternative sterilizer. It embodies the
concept of flash pasteurization. This, I believe, would have the same
biological effect as UV, but would not suffer from its oxidative
problems. Consider:
You pump aquarium water through an array of, oh, 16 really thin
titanium tubes. The teensy sections of Ti tubing are heated so as to
bring the passed water nearly to boiling. Size the heated tubes,
given the flow rate, so that transiting water is at X temperature for
Y seconds. Then, on the downstream end, pool the Ti tubes into a heat
exchanger (heat sink being the air) to get the temp back down to
roughly room temp before returning to the aquarium.
I'm sure it'd be a little balky, but making it less so would just be
down to a matter of some clever engineering.
--Trapper
I'm thinking of setting up a planted tank, and in the course of doing
my research I've found what seems to be some consensus about the
utility of UV sterilizers to help keep algae at bay.
Folks seem to think they're useful, and that the downside of UV iron
oxidation is tolerable. That seems sensible, since iron compounds can
easily and cheaply be added to compensate for oxidative denial of Fe
to the system.
A brief question is as to whether I have properly digested the wisdom
on this subject. If my basic conclusions above are wrong, I'd love to
know how I ought to be thinking on this.
This led me to an idea for an alternative sterilizer. It embodies the
concept of flash pasteurization. This, I believe, would have the same
biological effect as UV, but would not suffer from its oxidative
problems. Consider:
You pump aquarium water through an array of, oh, 16 really thin
titanium tubes. The teensy sections of Ti tubing are heated so as to
bring the passed water nearly to boiling. Size the heated tubes,
given the flow rate, so that transiting water is at X temperature for
Y seconds. Then, on the downstream end, pool the Ti tubes into a heat
exchanger (heat sink being the air) to get the temp back down to
roughly room temp before returning to the aquarium.
I'm sure it'd be a little balky, but making it less so would just be
down to a matter of some clever engineering.
--Trapper