Liquid purification or separation – Processes – Preventing – decreasing – or delaying precipitation,...
Patent
1996-12-16
2000-05-23
Simmons, David A.
Liquid purification or separation
Processes
Preventing, decreasing, or delaying precipitation,...
210700, 210749, C02F 502, C02F 514
Patent
active
060662603
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention concerns means of and a process for regulating the hardness and the pH value of the water in freshwater aquaria based on derivatives of oxo acids of phosphor which are capable of complexing the alkaline earth metal ions determining the water hardness in the water.
To keep fish healthy in aquaria for long periods of time, the aquarium water conditions have to meet those of the water of their natural environment as closely as possible. This applies especially to tropical ornamental fish coming directly or originally from regions with very soft and only slightly acidic water. In contrast to this, in large parts of Central Europe, North America and East Asia--i.e. in those areas with the greatest interest in keeping ornamental fish--the water is generally hard and slightly alkaline. If fish coming from soft water biotopes are kept for long periods in hard water this can lead to massive health problems, especially nephrocalcinosis and acute kidney failure; there are also increased difficulties in acclimatization and furthermore fertility disturbances.
Consequently, water being hard and slightly alkaline has to be softened and adjusted to a slightly acidic pH value.
PRIOR ART
Until recently the softening of aquarium water was attained exclusively by means of relatively expensive technical equipment and processes such as reverse osmosis and ion exchange, at which CO.sub.2 devices or mineral acids were used to lower the pH value.
The publication of Hans-J. Krause "Handbuch Aquarienwasser" (2nd ed. (1987), bede-Verlag, pages 34-38 and 79) gives a survey of a limited number of methods for adjusting the water hardness and the pH value of aquarium water at which the focal point of the techniques for adjusting the total hardness was set on the application of calcium sulfate or calcium chloride to increase water hardness and on fully desalinated water to lower the hardness (produced, for example, by reverse osmosis or the use of ion exchangers). The pH value reduction is attained by filtration of the aquarium water through a peat bed (peat filtering) or by increasing the CO.sub.2 concentration; the addition of mineral acids to the aquarium water, especially in the form of hydrochloric acid, phosphoric acid or in the form of "minus pH preparations" (such as NaH.sub.2 PO.sub.4, KHSO.sub.4, potassium hydrogen phthalate) is called a widespread but misguided practice in aquaria.
With respect to the use of potassium biphthalate combined with polyvinylpyrrolidone and ethylenediaminetetra acetic acid (EDTA), attention is drawn to DE 22 21 545 C3 which refers to a process for the preparation of aquarium water.
The substantiation for the statement as to why potassium or sodium hydrogen phosphate should be avoided where possible (given in the manual "Handbuch Aquarienwasser" cited above) may be learned from the essay entitled "pH Wert senken, aber wie?" ("Lowering the pH value, but how?") by Hans-J. Krause in DISKUS BRIEF, ann. 10 (1995) pages 9-13, wherein it is stated that phosphate buffers can have undesirable biological effects and consequently peat filtering is still recommended as preferred method for lowering the pH value. In said essay there further is discussed the use of liquid preparations based on aluminium salts for lowering both, the pH value and the total hardness, of the aquarium water leading to the result that, owing to the toxic effect of the aluminium salts on the fish, liquid preparations containing aluminium salts should also not be used.
Details on the toxicity of aluminium salts are given in the essay entitled "Zur Bedeutung der Aluminium-Toxizitat fur die Aquaristik (On the significance of aluminium toxicity for aquaria" by Horst W. Kohler in DISKUS BRIEF, ann. 10, (1995), pages 4-8.
Apart from any negative biological consequences at the use of mineral acids, the acidification with CO.sub.2 or with mineral acid also shows the drawback of an only low and easy to be interfered stability of the reduction of the pH value. If the CO.sub.2 acidification is carried out in presenc
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Amtra Aquaristik GmbH
Morrison Betsey J.
Simmons David A.
Striker Michael J.
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