Ozone or UV Sterilization

[mikemangue]

I was wondering if it would be better to use UV Sterilization over the use of Ozone to eradicate algae and parasites from the aquarium. I've used UV Sterilization before and it was pretty straight forward and easy to connect up. However, reading several user manuals on the Aqua Zone product, it kinda makes me feel uneasy about setting it up myself. The UV lamp gets rid of parasites and algae in the water column but it does not really clean up the water in regards to clarity. Although the protein skimmer is removing quite a lot of stuff from the tank, the water still carries that annoying tint of yellow. Since ozone coupled with a protein skimmer was the norm many years ago in the reef hobby, how come it isn't very popular today? Also, how does one know or measure the correct volume of air that should be passed through the Ozone Unit? Is an air dryer necessary? I'm currently looking at the Aqua Zone 50 Deluxe series that is sold with the monitoring probe and controller. Any information or reviews on this product would be appreciated.

[Tangster]

O'3 really increases the skimmers efficiency and I use that over a U/V any day , More water comes into contact in the skimmer with the ozone then you can move through a U/V Not if its just yellow water add carbon to clear it up and if you use a refugium then Carbon s a 24/7 must have as the plants leech chlorophyll all the time.

[mikemangue]

Thanks for the quick response! BTW how do you know if the air pump you have will do the job correctly? or how do you know what air pump is the best choice for your Ozone unit? Then there is the question of skimmer or ozone reactor, which one is better to use? There are so many questions but i'd rather attack them one at a time for now.

Originally Posted by Tangster

O'3 really increases the skimmers efficiency and I use that over a U/V any day , More water comes into contact in the skimmer with the ozone then you can move through a U/V Not if its just yellow water add carbon to clear it up and if you use a refugium then Carbon s a 24/7 must have as the plants leech chlorophyll all the time.

[Tangster]

I'm not sure I understand the question about what size airpump is neded for a Ozone gen. I have not used an air pump with one since the days of the air dirven skimmer's The venturi on the skimmer sucks in the 0'3 ..

[mikemangue]

Hi Tangster, I was wondering if the ozone requires an air pump to pump air into the AquaZone unit or does it just pull air through the ozone unit via the air intake valve on the venturi section of the protein skimmer? Reason why i'm asking is that the manual on the AquaZone has a diagram which shows an air pump sending air to the unit and from the unit to the protein skimmer.

Originally Posted by Tangster

I'm not sure I understand the question about what size airpump is neded for a Ozone gen. I have not used an air pump with one since the days of the air dirven skimmer's The venturi on the skimmer sucks in the 0'3 ..

[Tangster]

My skimmers always just pulled the Ozone in as air Just connect it to Out on the generator to the skimmer inlet and its done. Keep the run as short as you can and if you loose to much air ? then a simple little air pump will fix it.