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From: andre@nrc-ut.UUCP
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
Subject: Re: Fishtank Moved
Message-ID: <354@nrc-ut.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 1-Dec-87 20:06:30 EST
Article-I.D.: nrc-ut.354
Posted: Tue Dec  1 20:06:30 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 13-Dec-87 16:53:25 EST
References: <1753@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> <4370@sol.ARPA> <1755@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> <15631@watmath.waterloo.edu>
Reply-To: andre@nrc-ut.UUCP (Andre' Hut)
Organization: Network Research Corp.  Salt Lake City, UT
Lines: 38
Keywords: Filtration

In article <15631@watmath.waterloo.edu> rmpinchback@watmath.waterloo.edu (Reid M. Pinchback) writes:
>If you want to improve the performance of the filtration, don't put your
>hopes on carbon.  Carbon looses most of its effectiveness within a
>day or so.

There are two different types of filtration being talked about here,
mechanical and chemical.  Carbon is great for removing dissolved gases,
heavy metals etc, but is not meant to be a mechanical filtering media,
and certainly works for more than few days.

Filter floss, cotton, pleated filters etc.., are mechanical filters.
They remove particles of stuff from the water, and should be left
alone until the flow decreases too much.

In addition, there are two types of biological filtration, one popular
one, and another borrowed from salt-water setups that is also gaining
recognition in the fresh-water world.  The first is of course, the under-
gravel filter.  It's main job is to break the ammonia ions down into
nitrites and then into nitrates.  It is not meant to do anything else,
though most of them suck water down through them, and return the filtered
water at the surface (some passing through a small carbon filter on the
way up).  The other is the ultra-violet sterilizer.  The UV filter works
by passing water over a special germicidal bulb which kills almost anything
alive in the water.  This is great for controlling bacteria and some
parasites.  If you are interested, just ask any aquarium store which
handles salt-water fish.
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