Dietitian Posted February 24, 2010 Report Share Posted February 24, 2010 As I understand it, Nature2 puts silver into the spa water. I have two questions: 1. Can I purchase silver in liquid or powder form and add it in exact amounts? 2. What other metals are in the Nature2 device besides silver? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chem geek Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 I do not know where you can buy silver product on its own. There are plenty of copper sulfate products, but that's for algae prevention in pools. Nature2 for spas uses silver and zinc (for pools they use silver and copper). The zinc presumably stabilizes the silver somewhat though I don't know how. The silver ions provide some slow sanitation that supplements either chlorine or non-chlorine shock (MPS). It apparently is enough to allow for N2 + MPS to pass the stringent EPA DIS/TSS-12 tests. Also, silver ion catalyzes the breakdown of the most irritating component in MPS products potassium persulfate (aka peroxydisulfate), K2S2O8. There aren't any good reasonably priced test kits for measuring the level of metal ions in the water that I know of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quantumchromodynamics Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 You can get silver based algaecide that contains 0.8 % colloidal silver. The silver is from silver nitrate. AgNO3 --> Ag+ + NO3- I am not sure if the silver is in the form of a true colloid or if it is in the form of ions. A true colloid would consist of particles of metallic silver. Ionic silver is metallic silver that has been oxidized. If the silver comes from silver nitrate as the MSDS indicates from the CAS number (7761-88-8), it indicates an ionic form of silver unless the silver has been reduced, perhaps by a reducing agent such as sodium citrate, ascorbic acid or sodium thiosulfate. Here is a product made for hot tubs. Note: I am not recommending the use of this product. I am just answering your question about where you can get silver in a liquid form. Silver nitrate can combine with chloride or bromide to form insoluble silver chloride or silver bromide. That is the method used by drop test kits for chloride. I'm not sure how much of an issue it would be. Another issue that might become a concern is that silver can cause a blue or gray discoloration of the skin if a person is exposed long enough to high concentrations. This condition is known as argyria. Here are some places to buy chemicals: http://www.tciamerica.com/ http://www.alfa.com/ http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/ http://www.strem.com/ Reference 1 Reference 2 Reference 3 Reference 4 Reference 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dietitian Posted March 5, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2010 Excellent. Does anyone have any experience with this? It seems unlikely that silver alone could keep bacteria in check. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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