About Filtration and Cleanliness

My answers to questions often mention filtration, but based on the types of questions I receive it’s clear that many platers do not pay enough attention to this very important function. In fact, if I had a $100 bill for all the times poor filtration was the cause of a plating problem I could certainly spend a few extra days on the beach in Hawaii.

In my experience, operators seem to think that filtration is adequate as long as a plating bath does not have leaves and dead fish floating in the tanks. That is not the case. The material that really causes roughness, pitting, porosity, etc. is the fine particulate matter that you cannot see. Filtration is not a magical process. The parameters are well defined and if you are not comfortable with selecting and designing filtration systems, contact a vendor that specializes in filtration. You can find vendors of filtration equipment at www.pfonline.com under the Suppliers tab on the left.