Ozone in a reef tank - Questions....

cdness · Dec 18, 2013

I am getting a Red Sea Aquazone 200 from a local friend of mine, however I have no idea what I am doing with it. I read through the reefkeeping articles parts 1 - 3 but it was late and I think I just confused myself more than I was before hand... So I have a few questions:

1. If you currently or have in the past used ozone, what benefits did you see in your tank?

2. Regarding the safety factor, how safe are the ozone units to use? I live in a duplex, top floor, with radiant hot water heat so the air circulation in the house isn't all that great. I also have 2 kids with another on the way. My wife runs a small daycare in the house, plus we have a small mini-dachshund. I would hate to cause an unsafe environment due to aquarium equipment...

3. Can you describe the setup you have/had for ozone?

4. If you stopped using ozone, can you explain why you decided to stop using it?

5. Did your tank(s) ever show concrete proof that it helped with fish health, coral growth, colors, etc? Looking for success or failure stories here...

Thanks for your information!

Reefing Madness · Dec 19, 2013

cdness · Dec 19, 2013

Not too many people using Ozone huh?

Eric B · Dec 19, 2013

cdness said:
I am getting a Red Sea Aquazone 200 from a local friend of mine, however I have no idea what I am doing with it. I read through the reefkeeping articles parts 1 - 3 but it was late and I think I just confused myself more than I was before hand... So I have a few questions:

1. If you currently or have in the past used ozone, what benefits did you see in your tank? Yes I used it in the past and it did clear up the water quite a bit in my tank. I currently do not have a tank running so I don't have it running but I have all my stuff still and will put it back on my tank again once setup.

2. Regarding the safety factor, how safe are the ozone units to use? I live in a duplex, top floor, with radiant hot water heat so the air circulation in the house isn't all that great. I also have 2 kids with another on the way. My wife runs a small daycare in the house, plus we have a small mini-dachshund. I would hate to cause an unsafe environment due to aquarium equipment... The only thing I would recommend is that if you are adding it in the skimmer you will want to vent the skimmer cup through carbon and also the skimmer output as well. Some people are more sensitive to the effects of ozone than others as I have a friend that when he came over could tell when the ozone was running and when it was off, but I could not smell or had any effect from it standing right next to it! I also start running at low dosages and you can slowly work it up based on your ORP levels but I usually kept mine on the lower end of the scale. I would maybe do some more research over on RC as there might be some better write ups, but don't know how you will react until it is on the system. Mine was always set up in a sump room which also had a vent fan to suck air out to the outside and I always vented and ran the skimmer exit through carbon.

3. Can you describe the setup you have/had for ozone? Mine was set up with an air pump then went through an air dryer then into the ozone unit then into a "T" to the skimmer air intake for the pump via ozone safe tubing. Skimmer cup was vented through carbon which was not changed but 2-3 times a year and also the skimmer exit was run through carbon which was changed more regularly. All was controlled via a pinpoint ORP controller and probe and the only time the air pump and ozone generator was on was when it needed the ORP raised in the tank the rest of the time the skimmer pump suck air as it does normally.

4. If you stopped using ozone, can you explain why you decided to stop using it? Took down the tank but will be set back up on new system but again I have no confined space and no small kids to worry about also!

5. Did your tank(s) ever show concrete proof that it helped with fish health, coral growth, colors, etc? Looking for success or failure stories here... I can't say it improved anything over not running it drastically in the livestock department, but the water was clearer so maybe more par/light spectrum reached the bottom of the tank.

Thanks for your information!

Hope that helps you some in your decision making and if you set it up and see no improvement or it shows some type of negative effect on the family it can be removed really quickly. I would just start off really slowly and maybe ramp it up over several months if you decide to set it up and by all means make sure and use the carbon for venting and running the skimmers exit water through just to make sure you get any ozone vapors out of the system before it leaves the skimmer if that is your inputting method which is the way most do it. Good luck and keep us posted on how it works!

TJ's Reef · Dec 19, 2013

OK, this is another one of those topics that is hard to separate myth from fact about and in my experience and research show:

ADVANTAGES: Clean....I mean very clean/Gin clear water for improved light penetration, eliminates organics (algae cells, parasites etc...), by means of oxidation... Poof...gone, Greatly improves water quality/chemistry, Safe being that these units for aquariums are relatively small (200mg/hr +-) compared to commercial units.

DISADVANTAGES: Not many but, sometimes loud as they need an air pump to discharge O3 gas from Corona (many have cheap pumps) Odor, for some the smell of Ozone is quite strong and or unpleasant.

My experience: I have run one on my ULTRA HIGH BIO-LOAD 125g (160g overall) system for two years now and have only just completed my 6th or 7th 30 gallon water change this is with 20+ fish fed 3-5x daily and enough Coral to pack most 180g's. DISCLAIMER I do not endorse or encourage this WC schedule as requires greater experience and understanding of Marine Chemistry. Prior to running Ozone my ORP readings were 315-330 daily, within two days had risen to 370-390 and was noticeably clearer, within a Month had risen to 435-450 range and for past Year or more consistently 445-465 running unit at only 35-40%. For the past year I only run manually an hour or two each day when around, initially had controlled through my Apex to come ON if 350 and OFF at 400 then adjusted to ON 375 - OFF 425. Once it settled down to above 430 average rarely came on and when it did in the evening while eating dinner or watching TV which the noise and smell to wife = no bueno. I do have my Apex programmed to run it daily for 2 hours but have kept to manual usage. Anytime I do any maintenance or fragging I turn it on and crank it up 70-80% or so which I feel is a big plus. To test how potentially dangerous this could be I ran mine at 100% for 2+ hours without any Carbon at outlet, results were that it killed a small patch of Caulerpa mexicana in my fuge directly downstream of Skimmer outlet. I do place a bag of Carbon in Skimmer chamber to attract any unspent O3. All in all I would endorse the use of Ozone for Aquarium use as long as one takes the time to research and fully understand it.

Cheers, Todd

Flameback Pair · Dec 19, 2013

To keep ozone out of room/house:

1. Whether using controller or surge protector, plug skimmer and ozonizer in same cord, preferrably 3-way outlet cord so when turning off or unplugging skimmer, ozonizer gets turned off or unplugged at the same time as the skimmer and ozone doesn't leak into the room .

2. Connect a skimmer waste collector to your collection cup that has a built-in carbon container on the air vent. Avast Marine has a good one for a good price. As the ozone-laden foam head pops the gases go through the waste hose and through the waste collector's air vent. Your skimmer needs an air/gas exhaust and the waste collector is also handy for making longer in-between skimmate dumpings. If your skimmer collection cup lid has vent holes, plug them to keep ozone from leaking into room.

3. Don't use an air pump as it will produce more of an air-ozone mixture than your skimmer air-draw/air-intake can use. The excess gas that will not be used gets pumped into the room.

4. Run a lot of carbon in your sump, preferably near your skimmer's water output. Ozone produces some type of a bleach that carbon can convert back into an inert chemical.

5. The half-life of ozone is very short so if your ozonizer is set to a low milligram-per-hour output, the ozone will degenerate fast and will not be much of a product in your skimmer's gas exhaust. It doesn't take much ozone to boost ORP.

Flameback Pair · Dec 19, 2013

* Can a moderator make this thread sticky?

Here is a link to Avast's auto-waste collector:

AVAST Marine Works - Davy Jones' Skimmate Locker - Product Details

cdness · Dec 19, 2013

Awesome information everyone! Thank you so much. You have alleviated n concerns and will give it a try. My wife has a touchy nose so that's my only concern now.

I will get the device soon and will put together my findings in this thread

Flameback Pair · Jan 17, 2014

Here's my Enaly ozonizer I bought from BRS. It will be 2 or 3 months before I get it setup on my new build but I'll let you all know how it goes.

trido · Jan 17, 2014

Thats a good looking controller there powers2001. How do you plan to hook it up? Are you going to use an O3 reactor or simply put it into your skimmer intake.

Ive been running Ozone on my 210 for about two months and since Christmas I hooked up to my apex. My ORP has gone from 260 to 395 in three weeks and My corals are looking better every week. I am running straight into my Bubble King 250 air intake.

Flameback Pair · Jan 21, 2014

I am going to run it directly into my custom ASM skimmer. Problem is ozone produces some sort of bleach in saltwater. I don't know how to run skimmer's output through carbon without bypass. I will just run GAC in a canister. Hope it's enough.

Trido, how much mg/hr of ozone are you running?

alan.reef · May 14, 2014

Hey everyone.
is there link how to understand use of ORP?

Flameback Pair · May 14, 2014

alan.reef said:
Hey everyone.
is there link how to understand use of ORP?

First of all I don't know if there is a link on this site so I will post a link on RC. Second, ORP is not used per se, it is a measure of oxidation reduction potential which is expressed in units called millivolts, written: mV. This article explains it much better than I can.

ORP and the Reef Aquarium:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-1...ture/index.htm