Ozone, do you use it?

[Birdlady]

Who uses ozone?

If yes, what are your experiences?

What product do you use?

[Jason McKenzie]

I've heard they are very tricky to dial in and if wrong will take out your system quickly.
Check out this thread OmarD Ozone
and this one

Ozone Failure
But I have also read you can be very successful with Ozone

J

[Birdlady]

yeah, I had read that at the time and did not really pick up on the ozone part...hmmm.


I plan on using a controller and ORP monitor (should I go this route)

The reasone I am considering is because Anthony Calfo had said to our reef club, that ozone was the single best thing he had done with his tanks (paraphrased of course) So I thought I would investigate

[Jason McKenzie]

Hey BL do you have any links to the Use and benefits of Ozone. I really have no Idea what it dose and would like to learn. I know "Advanced Aquarist" did an artical on it but can't find it now?

J

[mmakay]

OK, I read about a billion pages of thread on the board that shall remain nameless. Here are the potential benefits of ozone:

1) increased skimmer efficiency
2) improved water clarity (greatly)
3) more dissolved oxygen

Potential problems (and why they aren't a big deal):

1) Ozone (O3) is a lethal in large concentrations - the generators used on aquariums can't produce anywhere near this much
2) O3 is an mucus membrane irritant (lungs & sinus) in small doses - properly set up, the aquarium will consume all O3 before it reaches the rooms air
3) Ozone (again in large amounts) can kill fish & corals - O3 has a half life of about 15 seconds in pure water ... less in reef water containing disolved compounds ... so if you introduce it into your skimmer (prefered method) it is long gone before reaching the tank

Feel free to ask questions, I feel well educated now!

[mojoreef]

Maybe I can offer a bit. I use alot of ozone, as with Anthiny I think its a great addition to any reef tank. Ozone is the big daddy of the oxidizers, it is an active little mole, as in it goes out and seeks organics, where as most all other forms of filtration as passive.
Ozone will seek out organic and oxidize them, the result will be water with less organics and thus much more clear. Not to sure on how it creates more dissolved oxygen. The reason folks say it super charges the skimmer is that you have released this little active mole that runs around in the skimmer killing organic, it doesnt cause the skimmer to skim more, actually you will se a reduction in skimmate because the ozone has already taken care of the organics
Ozone should never get to the tank anyway, it you run your skimmer effluent through a carbon bag it will take any residual ozone out.
Back in the old days folks used to run it through an air stone directly into the fish tank. Prolonged usage like that lead to head and laterial line disease. But were smarter now.
The air going into the ozone generator should be dry, any moisture makes it less effective at generating ozone. You dont need a drier as you can have the intak pipe in a dry room, but it doesnt hurt to have one.


MIke

[mmakay]

It creates more dissolved oxygen (O2) because ozone (O3) is simply atmospheric oxygen (a molecule composed of 2 oxygen atoms) with an additional oxygen atom. The additional atom makes the molecule unstable. (It wants to regain a neutral electron shell configuration, in this case 4 electrons ... the extra electron gives it a negative charge.) When it runs into other molecules, it tries to donate the extra atom. If the other molecule accepts the atom, the O3 becomes O2. Bingo! Free oxygen.

So what happens to the other molecule that accepted the oxygen atom? In our case (aquariums) that other molecule is typically a disolved organic. They have in common a carbon to carbon tbond which itself is unstable. The oxygen atom gets in between those carbon atoms and bonds with one of them. The result is two seperate stable molecules. Because they are stable, they are no longer water soluable and can be skimmed. (Dissolved solids cannot be skimmed. If they could a skimmer would remove the salt, right?) So I don't claim that you will notice more skimate, but there will be. The organics don't just dissapear because you introduced ozone ... they have to go somewhere.

[mojoreef]

Thanks MMakay I couldnt remember the formula behind the oxygen generation. Personally though I have not seen a raise in my do.
You will find thier is a point where ozone will actually stop a skimmer from even producing foam at all.

good post!

Mike

[Birdlady]

Great feedback! Thanks guys!


So, I am looking at the Redsea Aquazone deluxe, with probe, controller, drier, and corona discharge unit for my 58 gallon. Probably the 100mg one.

Is this decent? Or should I go with a Milwaukee probe/controller and seek a different ozone generator?

With a 100 mg unit, is it unlikely to OD on O3?

[mmakay]

Originally Posted by mojoreef

Thanks MMakay I couldnt remember the formula behind the oxygen generation. Personally though I have not seen a raise in my do.
You will find thier is a point where ozone will actually stop a skimmer from even producing foam at all.

I suspect that your dissolved oxygen is already very high. In that case, the O2 will simply bubble out in your skimmer or reactor. It can't disolve if the solution is already supersaturated! People with high bioload will probably notice an improvement, though.

If somebody uses enough ozone to reduce foam production, I think they are using WAY TOO MUCH! The nice thing about O3 is that a little goes a long way. I'm sure you would agree!