ultrasonic cleaners

[sneeyatch]

kinda thinking out loud on this one. i was watching tv last night and saw that ultrasonic toothbrush commercial. then i started thingking about ultrasonic cleaners in general. i used them when i was doing tattoos and they clean the crap out of things.

i was wondering if this technology could be utilized in the aquarium industry possibly being modded somehow into skimmers or even something similar to ozone injection...

 

[DrBDC]

Didn't the dentist in the movie NEMO have one?

 

[mr.wilson]

I've heard of their use in pond applications, but I can't confirm their value. They are an easy technology to sell to a market with a limited knowledge of water chemistry. Reef keepers on the other hand are a hard sell.

I would imagine that they would interfere with water chemistry, and may not even work in marine applications due to the high TDS.

Ultraviolet sterilizers and ozonizers are different a they target free-floating POC. To my limited knowledge, ultrasonic cleaners sterilize everything in its' path.

It's always good to keep an eye out for new technology from other sectors though. They have a much bigger R&D budget.

 

[Bishop]

I've put some thought into this as well... nothing conclusive. Ultrasonic and megasonic cleaners are indespensible in laboratories for cleaning.

They cause cavitation in fluids creating very small, very high energy bubbles, but not a great deal of them.

If you put your hands in one while it is on can cause pretty severe pain (curiosity killed the cat while trying to clean the grease from his fingernails), apparently they cause microfractures in bones.