Magnetic glass cleaner

Performance & sizing

Core numbers for matching this unit to your tank and electrical plan.

Power

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Flow rate

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Noise

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Dimensions

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Price range

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Tank fit (L)

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Consumables & maintenance

Follow the manufacturer schedule for seals, impellers, media, and other consumables.

Description

Two things are worth knowing about this object and neither is printed on it. The first is what its magnets are not covered by. The United States has a federal safety standard for magnets at 16 CFR part 1262, written because swallowed magnets attract each other through body tissue, or attract a swallowed metal object, and the rule's own findings attach pressure necrosis, bowel obstruction, perforation, sepsis and death to that mechanism, against an estimated 26,600 magnet ingestions treated in American emergency departments between 2010 and 2021. The standard caps the flux index of any loose or separable magnet small enough to fit inside the small parts cylinder. Then it defines its reach: a subject magnet product is one designed, marketed or intended for entertainment, jewellery, mental stimulation or stress relief. An aquarium cleaner is none of those, so the cap does not apply to it, and the inner half is separable by design because it has to come off in the tank. The second is what the film on the glass is. FAO's aquaponics manual describes macroalgae as filamentous mats attached to the bottoms and sides of tanks, and gives reasons to care that are not cosmetic. Algae compete with plants for nutrients. They produce oxygen by day and consume it at night, and that night time draw can pull dissolved oxygen down far enough to kill fish. Filamentous growth also clogs drains and blocks filters. Which sets an honest expectation for the tool. FAO's own remedy for algae is not scraping, it is light: shade the water surfaces so none of them sit in direct sun. A magnet clears the pane you look through. It does nothing about the reason the pane went green, and no published figure exists for the pull strength, the pad or the glass thickness any particular one will handle.

Sources

• ecfr.gov — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-II/subchapter-B/part-1262
• openknowledge.fao.org — https://openknowledge.fao.org/items/e4d11efd-d97a-4959-8ae2-8b7d3fd32c5e

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