# Negative Ions With Aquariums?



## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

This is a topic a bit out there for most people: the benefits of negative ions in your atmosphere. I use things such as salt lamps to generate negative ions. 

With that being said, it is well known that waterfalls are massive negative ion generators. I have to further my research to determine how they are generating them or why but, this got me thinking about bubbling fountains indoors. Then I thought why I already have a large body of moving water with my aquariums! 

Does anyone have any suggestions? I believe it has to do with falling water droplets which is not really the case in our aquariums except for maybe water falling through a canister filter.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Elemental ions are good for plants to absorb for nutrients. I'm not sure what other benefits you refer to.


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## Clinton Parsons (Apr 11, 2016)

You can add Tourmaline but it doesn't do anything. 

As effective as salt lamps


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

The evaporation of water sucked into salt is the process that generates negative ions. This is real science not superstition, it has many health benefits. I allow my salt lamps to absorb moisture all day then run them at night as I sleep. 

Any ion meter near falling water will show you the results of this process.

Lab rats injected with cancer cells were split into two groups, one was left alone while the other was exposed to artificially produced negative ion generators. The ones left alone died early from cancer, the ones treated with negative ions died of old age and not from the cancer itself.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Every salt that dissolves in water puts both negative and positive ions in the water. The total of each has to be the same. Evaporate the water and those negative ions get back together with positive ions, forming salts, but not necessarily the same salts you dissolved in the water. Air and water are different.


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

I think your confused, salt and my aquarium have nothing to do with each other. Falling water changes the balance of ions in the air which are typically 99% + the same way everything is made up of matter and there is barely any antimatter. Therefor, water returning to your tank in the form of a showerhead would produce negative charged ions, this is what I am referring to.


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## Clinton Parsons (Apr 11, 2016)

If all you want is falling water, look into biotowers and wet/dry filters. You will outgas a lot of co2, though.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Teebo said:


> I think your confused, salt and my aquarium have nothing to do with each other. Falling water changes the balance of ions in the air which are typically 99% + the same way everything is made up of matter and there is barely any antimatter. Therefor, water returning to your tank in the form of a showerhead would produce negative charged ions, this is what I am referring to.


Unless you are using non-traditional fertilizers, you are fertilizing with salts, like KNO3, KH2PO4, etc. If air typically contains almost all positive ions the air must also contain an equal number of free electrons. Intuitively I doubt that to be the case. But, in any case, air isn't water. In water I don't believe you can maintain a net negative or positive charge.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Don't it depend on the ion? You're saying a general 'ion'. I'm sure lead and uranium ion is bad for your health.

Negative air ion is pretty common in air filters; made electrically. The health benefit is the ions attaches to pollen & dust making it bigger so it can be filtered out or it collects to the ground. I'm not sure what benefit negative ions would be in water.


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

I always fill my buckets using a handheld shower head. The other day I was bored and needed to clean my syphon bipe and its little blue adaptor that takes the fat tube if you want to use it. anyhow, I was running the tap on hot, and put the shower head over the opening in the blue adaptor, they are about the same size. It was violently propelling the warm water into the silicon tube that was still connected. So much so that there was a small, loud vortex inside a piece of less than 1/2' thickness. Was really interesting although I could think of no application for it.

How do you stop your salt lamps from dripping on your furniture? ( I boxed mine up and put it in the garage, it was making too much mess)


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## sadchevy (Jun 15, 2013)

I think everyone is missing the OP's point. His question seems to be if he could set up his aquarium to work as a negative ion generator. I think running your return through a shower head to create a waterfall effect into the tank would work to a point. The higher the fall and flow rate of water, the better the result. Negative ion tech is really just a way to clean air of dust particles with a static electric charge. Using the waterfall effect to do so means you are making your aquarium into a air filter, what was in the air is then trapped in your aquarium water and then has to be filtered out of the water. 
The idea behind salt lamps is that they absorb moisture from the air. This moisture contains minute amounts of contaminants. When the lamp is turned on, it heats the moisture laden salt thus evaporating the water leaving behind the contaminants , basically cleaning the air. A waterfall has the same effect, as does rain. Smell the air after a good rain storm, or near a large waterfall, it will smell and feel fresher and lighter. To be of any real benefit, the process needs to be on a massive scale. Honestly the technology is sound, the execution can't be done on a small scale to prove the benefits.


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

To answer the question on the salt lamps making a mess, you are probably not using it correctly. The wooden base has a varnish that gets eaten by salt drip, the point of these lamps are to absorb the moisture from the air and if you are not using the lamp regularly it does not evaporate therefore it builds up and drips off it. Personally I have a custom salt lamp I made myself out of the aluminum base of a jumbo lava lamp, after the globe was removed I laid a piece of screen mesh into the "dish" which I then filled with himalayan salt rocks...any dripping that occurs would fall into the base and not onto the table however I use mine every night so it gets a chance to dry out daily. I placed it right in front of my large HEPA filter that runs 24/7...I use furnace filters with some modifications which make it cost efficient to replace the filters. 










sadchevy is 100% correct, everyone was getting off topic. While I am trying to improve air quality, I do not want to use my aquarium as a dust trap, my understanding went a step further than air dust PPM. It is a matter of actual health benefits related directly to our consumption of negative ions. I have began to dismiss this topic of using my aquarium, but it is interesting you mentioned the smell of rain. In the winter at least where I live we can not open our windows because of the cold, if in the middle of the winter we get a mild day I will open my windows and there is always an amazing SMELL of fresh air...but if I were to just walk outside I would not have gotten the same smell effect. I have always wondered what this was even in the cleanest homes, this contrast, and I am starting to think it has something to do with ion exchange. Any idea?

Rather than compromise the health of my aquarium hobby I will just build some sort of a fountain in my home or a waterfall wall.


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## Clinton Parsons (Apr 11, 2016)

That smell is called Petrichor btw https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrichor


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

Why not just buy an ionizer. Just make sure to get one with a earthing plate to prevent black walls otherwise dirt particles get attracted to your walls.


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