Macro Aqua is a Chinese aquarium equipment manufacturer better known for their diverse oscillating powerheads, and they grabbed the spotlight this week for their new and innovative Flow Swing attachment. Now Macro Aqua has revealed that they have developed a mesh-wheel impeller made of titanium which could be the first of its kind to actually make it to market.
We’ve seen titanium and similar alloy mesh wheels proposed by Royal Exclusiv and Euro Reef Nano skimmers actually did have them for a time. However up until now there hasn’t really been a mass-produced protein skimmer line which fully featured a mesh wheel made of titanium.
Titanium is a very light, very strong transition metal which also happens to be highly unreactive, and biologically inert. These qualities make Titanium and ideal choice for use as a mesh-wheel impeller where a protein skimmer pump motor causes it to churn up a lot of air and water.
Since titanium is very light and very strong, a smaller and therefore lower mass mesh wheel can be developed for protein skimmer use. Having less mass to the impeller should allow the pump to spin the impeller faster, with less energy, and therefore make it a more efficient choice for use in protein skimming. Also since titanium is so strong you won’t be losing needle-pins over time like you would with a plastic impeller.
Mesh wheels have proven their mettle when it comes to generating copious clouds of frothy air water mixtures, and the sharp angles of the Titanium mesh wheel ought to create even smaller air bubbles, especially if the skimmer pump rotates at high RPMs. Macro Aqua makes a few different cone protein skimmers with fairly generic designs, but their controllable model is poised to gain more attention now that it will be fitted with a titanium mesh wheel impeller. [Macro Aqua]
