Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions cleaning air stones

Any recomendation on how or what to use to clean air stones on a bottom based aeriation system. Also any recomendations on how often to clean them.

Thanks, Dave

Cleaning Ceramic, Porous Airstones or any diffuser.
First the cause. Two things clog or plug airstones.
1. Growth of living things such as bacteria coatings, attached algae such as filamentous & diatom types, and sometimes animal coatings such as bryozoans. These things grow best on stones in clear water where sunlight can reach the stones. Otherwise when stones are "in the dark" not much grows attached and adheres to the stones.
2. When air bubbles are released underwater it tends to cause minerals that are dissioved in the water to precipitate or come out of solution and deposit on the stones' pores and eventually decreases the pore size to close it up. How fast this happens depends on how hard or how high the mineral concentration in the pond water. Some stones need cleaning annually whereas others only need cleaning once every two or three years.

Cleaning ALWAYS improves the "aeration affect". Better to clean too often than too infrequently. If one has a low pressue gauge (30psi) on the compressor system the gauge can tell you when the stones or any diffuser needs cleaning. As pressure begins to increase higher than when the diffuser was new or just cleaned then this is a signal that clogging is occurring and cleaning should be done. That's why every aerator should have a pressure gauge. It not only tells when cleaning is needed it allows you to "trouble shoot" problems. Otherwise you don't know how well the system is running.

Clean airstones or porous stones in muriatic acid which is a weak solution of hydrocloric acid (HCL). This is the acid used to clean cement off brick & will dissolve limestone. . Easiest place to find it is in home improvement stores or swimming pool supply.
Proceedure: Unscrew airstone blow water out of stone. BEST to Wear rubber gloves, and do it OUTSIDE fuming smoke is also corrosive - Soak stone /stones (horizontal or vertical) directly in acid for 10 to 20 minutes depending on how clogged the stones were. Acid usually will turn green color during cleaning process. Rinse stones with fresh water and I try and rinse out acid from inside stone by pouring water in stone and blowing out water but this is not necesssary and be carefull!!. Even this weakened ACID will lightly burn your skin. Always quickly rinse any acid off your skin. This is why I quit using airstones as diffusers because of the stinky toxic, acidic, fuming, mess during cleaning. Some have used vinegar to clean airstones but I don't think this works as good or as fast as muriatic acid. Vinegar also won't do as good of a job of removing attached growth deposits.
Disposal of acid. Dilute acid with water 5 to 6 times or more and spread it out in the driveway stone. The stones may bubble and get a little smaller. I don't recommend pouring it down the drain too corrosive. Also Read label for disposal suggestions.

To clean membrane diffusers. Scrub rubber surface with soap and water allow to dry throughly. Reinstall. This is usu all that's needed.
To clean punched tubing diffusers. Blow water out of tubing. Allow to dry in sun for 1 to 2 days, massage tubing to break open pores. Punch a few new holes if necessary. Reinstall.

Bill, Thanks for the relpy. I pulled one of the air stations up to look at it and it looked pretty good. Thanks for the info.
Dave