Coupla ozone questions

ScubaSkeets · Jan 20, 2024

I'm thinking of hooking up an ozone generator to my protein skimmer, and I have a couple questions

1. Is there a way to tell if the protein skimmer is rated for ozone use or is it safe to assume all modern protein skimmers are?

2. To avoid the odor, do I just put some carbon in a bag and place it on the lid of the protein skimmer

3. My protein skimmer has a dual air intake,

Would I need to connect the ozone hose to both intakes with a "t" fitting?

Thanks!

o2manyfish · Jan 21, 2024

1) The skimmer is ozone safe. Depending on the pump if it uses rubber inserts to center the impeller shaft - those will disintegrate.

2) You might need carbon on the top. It's going to depend and vary. I ran ozone 24/7 on my 300g FO with the skimmer in the stand and the tank in the entranceway and up against the back of our living room couch. Every couple of months we would catch a whiff of it, but it wasn't bad. It's going to depend on the quantity you dose and how much air movement is in the stand. Ozone is super unstable. The O3 molecule wants to explode. As soon as that molecule touches anything it blows apart - and voila the ozone in gone. So adding a fan to bounce the air around in the stand could help as well. It's not the carbon that makes the smell go away. It's making the ozone pass through the porous carbon, the molecules bump into the carbon and break apart. Using a bag of sand or gravel on top of the skimmer cup can be just as effective.

3) No, you do not have to connect to both inlets. Those are venturi inlets so there is vacuum. However, with two openings if you hook ozone up to 1 the venturi is going to pull air from the hole with the least resistance - Which won't be thru an ozonizer and tubing. The solution is to plug the second inlet and let the skimmer draw from just the ozone. However, if the skimmer can't pull enough air through one opening and the performance or bubble quantity drops drastically you have to look into adding an air pump to your ozone system. The Air pump pumps the air into the ozonizer and then thru the tubing into the skimmer. This alone may return your skimmers performance. If the skimmer still needs more air then you open up the second venturi intake. With the air pump on the ozone system it will be forcing/pumpin the ozone and the skimmer should go back to performing as usual.

Dave B

ScubaSkeets · Feb 4, 2024

o2manyfish said:
1) The skimmer is ozone safe. Depending on the pump if it uses rubber inserts to center the impeller shaft - those will disintegrate.

2) You might need carbon on the top. It's going to depend and vary. I ran ozone 24/7 on my 300g FO with the skimmer in the stand and the tank in the entranceway and up against the back of our living room couch. Every couple of months we would catch a whiff of it, but it wasn't bad. It's going to depend on the quantity you dose and how much air movement is in the stand. Ozone is super unstable. The O3 molecule wants to explode. As soon as that molecule touches anything it blows apart - and voila the ozone in gone. So adding a fan to bounce the air around in the stand could help as well. It's not the carbon that makes the smell go away. It's making the ozone pass through the porous carbon, the molecules bump into the carbon and break apart. Using a bag of sand or gravel on top of the skimmer cup can be just as effective.

3) No, you do not have to connect to both inlets. Those are venturi inlets so there is vacuum. However, with two openings if you hook ozone up to 1 the venturi is going to pull air from the hole with the least resistance - Which won't be thru an ozonizer and tubing. The solution is to plug the second inlet and let the skimmer draw from just the ozone. However, if the skimmer can't pull enough air through one opening and the performance or bubble quantity drops drastically you have to look into adding an air pump to your ozone system. The Air pump pumps the air into the ozonizer and then thru the tubing into the skimmer. This alone may return your skimmers performance. If the skimmer still needs more air then you open up the second venturi intake. With the air pump on the ozone system it will be forcing/pumpin the ozone and the skimmer should go back to performing as usual.

Dave B

Sorry. I Just noticed this reply. Thanks!!