I'm no chemist...l but I think it has to do with allowing the individual pellets to absorb more co2 before a carbonate shell seals off the interior or those pellets.
......where’s Randy????[emoji3]
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I'm no chemist...l but I think it has to do with allowing the individual pellets to absorb more co2 before a carbonate shell seals off the interior or those pellets.
Ok, but why does the humid air extend the life of the media? What is happening chemically?
I’m not implying that the recycled air is the main benefit, but my logic (which isn’t always sound) would tell me that this is.
As folks have noted, a solid particle reacting with a gas is essentially limited to reacting on the surface of each grain. The interior is wasted.
If the air is humid enough, you can create a moist environment on the surface of each particle (like salt left out on a very humid day: it collects moisture and eventually dissolves into that collected water). That environment dissolves a little of the solid material, allow more complete use of it (but likely still not all of it).
FWIW, soda lime gots it first big use in anaesthesia where you want to reduce CO2 the patient is rebreathing. The moisture the patient lungs added allowed a lot more extensive use of the media than if the air was dry.
?? why -- “and a newly installed 30 gallon tank for growing aptasia.” -- why ??