Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Some references:
Sunshine Pool Products - scroll down the page and there is about 3 different pics

Copper Ionizer

or google copper ionizers

The Na+ ion doesn't matter it is the Cl- ions that are present in the pool... Br- would have a very similar effect.

Salt has to be added for the ioniser to split it and produce the chlorine..........will check your links in the morn.

It seems the purpose of the ioniser is the undergo oxidation and release copper into the the water to kill the algae. With a high flow over the electrodes one pole will corrode and the other will have a slight build up.

Again this won't work efficiently in pure water it is the chlorine/bromine that allows the reaction to take place.

Oh, ok, thats completely different operation to the stainless chlorinator i was talking about!

The current alternates direction so that there is equal loss on both electrodes, it is also recommended to turn them 90 degrees every 3 months to spread the wear...a set lasts several years, cost ~$100/pair

I think we are all one the same page now.... big question is... does it really keep the algae down?

Dunno - never had any algae to see if it works :tongueincheek:

Well I have some results.
Experimental setup- 60litre plastic container, 3 metres of 13mm copper pipe in a coil, rainwater, from all plastic storage,to fill.
Initial test for copper at start of soaking period= Zero reading. pH = 7.3
After 5 days just sitting in the water the copper pipe has released enough copper into the water to give me a reading of 0.5mg/L which is also 0.5ppm.
BUMMER!!
I don't think that would be major problem when the same amount of copper is immersed in 4000 litres of water but it is clear that some copper will go into solution from the pipe.
I will leave the setup as it is and check again in another week.
As an aside my next door neighbour says that when he makes up the blowfly lure for his flytrap he has to use rainwater which has not been in contact with his hot water service as there is enough of something , probably copper, in the water to prevent the lure bait from activating.
I did however do a copper test on the hot water from my all copper hot water service and didn't detect any copper.

very interesting results, thanks Jim

keep us informed jim! good of you to make the effort.

Your hot water probably doesn't show levels as the water in constantly being used and refreshed.

0.5ppm is quite a bit for 5 days when you consider toxicities for some aquatic life are in the .01 ppm range

Sorry f&F, you'll have to hook me up with a S/S loop for the A/C come water chiller i make for you.

nice one jim

Jim, do another PH test to see if its drifted below 7

Hi Jim,
Great experiment.
Was the water just plain old adams ale?
It could be interesting to see the if you get a different outcome with say a constant 0.5mg/L ammonia in the water over the same time period.
I`ll leave it to you to decide how to get the ammonia in the water

Like the idea of seeing if ammonia would make a difference to either pH or copper concentrations. I did try and determine the amount of ammonia in urine the hard way ie via Google but methinks the little test kit might allow titration of a suitable quantity to add to 60 litres.
I am assuming plain rainwater is adams ale? If so yes - real rainwater which has not had any contact with copper.
Steve-the pH started at about 7.3 and was still at the same reading after 5 days with copper immersed in it.
More experiments to follow.