RipSlider
Fish Crazy
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2006
- Messages
- 210
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- 0
Hello.
I've been planning a high speed de-nitrator for a while. Have bodged together a DIY version and it works well ( really well ). Before I start getting all excitied, I just wanted someone to check my chemistry so I'm sure that it's working for the reason i *think* it's working.
OK,
am playing with using Ozone in fresh water at the moment. Do not actually want it getting ( in high volumes at least ) into the main tank, so was thinking about methods of stripping it out before it hits the tank.
Usual route is to pass the enriched water over carbon:
This generates carbonic acid ( h2co3 ) which will rapidly convert itself to CO2 and more water
( H20 + H2CO3 -> CO2 + 2H20)
now, this is kind of useful, as it means that plants can access the co2 without needing to inject it into the water, it's already at a molecular level.
However, i got to wondering if there were any more useful ways of shedding the o3.
I thought of this:
Peat has lots of iron in it. plants like iron.
Tank water has nitrates in it, which fish do NOT like.
So, we have:
h20+NO3+03 ( that's out nitrate rich water. There is NO NO2, as the presence of O3 will immeidiately convert all of it to NO3 ).
If we now run this mixture over iron, the iron, being more reactive, will attempt to sieze the oxygen from the NO3. In normal conditions, it doesn't have enough reactivity to do this, but where there is an excess amount of 03 it will be different.
The 03 will be breaking down into 02 + 0 ( this is more stable ). This spare single O ( which is a free radical of oxygen )will allow for enough re-activity for the iron to bind to the oxygen within the NO3. Net result is something like:
H20 + NO3 + 03 + Fe (ii) -> FE(iii) + n2 + 02 + H20
( note that this is not a balanced equation, and I've missed out the intermediate transforms )
Rust will be formed, which can easily be removed using a wool filter, and will also be taken up by any plants. ( Ozone will form colloids of metal salts, meaning that mechanical filters can remove them if they are fine enough)
OK, so that's the chemsitry. And SOMETHING like this seems to be happening. Water coming out of my DIY peat filter is a lot lower in NO3 and Ozone than it is going in ( checked with liquid kits for the NO3 and an ORP meter for the O3).
So, it seems good. But like I said, have I worked out the right reason for what is actually happening, or is something else going on and my calc's are rubbish?
Many thanks
Steve
I've been planning a high speed de-nitrator for a while. Have bodged together a DIY version and it works well ( really well ). Before I start getting all excitied, I just wanted someone to check my chemistry so I'm sure that it's working for the reason i *think* it's working.
OK,
am playing with using Ozone in fresh water at the moment. Do not actually want it getting ( in high volumes at least ) into the main tank, so was thinking about methods of stripping it out before it hits the tank.
Usual route is to pass the enriched water over carbon:
This generates carbonic acid ( h2co3 ) which will rapidly convert itself to CO2 and more water
( H20 + H2CO3 -> CO2 + 2H20)
now, this is kind of useful, as it means that plants can access the co2 without needing to inject it into the water, it's already at a molecular level.
However, i got to wondering if there were any more useful ways of shedding the o3.
I thought of this:
Peat has lots of iron in it. plants like iron.
Tank water has nitrates in it, which fish do NOT like.
So, we have:
h20+NO3+03 ( that's out nitrate rich water. There is NO NO2, as the presence of O3 will immeidiately convert all of it to NO3 ).
If we now run this mixture over iron, the iron, being more reactive, will attempt to sieze the oxygen from the NO3. In normal conditions, it doesn't have enough reactivity to do this, but where there is an excess amount of 03 it will be different.
The 03 will be breaking down into 02 + 0 ( this is more stable ). This spare single O ( which is a free radical of oxygen )will allow for enough re-activity for the iron to bind to the oxygen within the NO3. Net result is something like:
H20 + NO3 + 03 + Fe (ii) -> FE(iii) + n2 + 02 + H20
( note that this is not a balanced equation, and I've missed out the intermediate transforms )
Rust will be formed, which can easily be removed using a wool filter, and will also be taken up by any plants. ( Ozone will form colloids of metal salts, meaning that mechanical filters can remove them if they are fine enough)
OK, so that's the chemsitry. And SOMETHING like this seems to be happening. Water coming out of my DIY peat filter is a lot lower in NO3 and Ozone than it is going in ( checked with liquid kits for the NO3 and an ORP meter for the O3).
So, it seems good. But like I said, have I worked out the right reason for what is actually happening, or is something else going on and my calc's are rubbish?
Many thanks
Steve
