Praktische Erfahrungen mit dem Eiweißabschäumer Aquaflotor® im RWE-Delfinarium des Zoo Duisburg

Traditionally the water in Zoo Duisburg's dolphin exhibits has been treated with chlorine to guarantee a clean and healthy environment for the dolphins. In a pilot project in the 1990s Zoo Duisburg and the Forschungszentrum Jülich, one of the largest research institutes in Europe with a focus on physics and supercomputing, a new purely biological filtration system on the basis of large protein skimmers was developed to treat the water of Zoo Duisburg's dolphin exhibit, without the need to use any additional chemicals. A total of 13 specially developed protein skimmers, so called Aquaflotoren, were incorporated into the dolphinarium's filtration system, which resulted in a highly efficient water treatment, constantly good water values and a substantial reduction of waste water in comparison to the former filtration device based on the use of chlorine.