OZONE.........

Diesel · Aug 18, 2015

OZONE.............. what is it good for??

Ok, not all the way but it does something to saltwater that it benefit of a better environment.
Will it alter the bacteria grow or population?
What about elements in saltwater, does infect the balance of that?
Not to mention your PH, will it be more stable or are you in for more adjustments?

Diesel · Aug 19, 2015

Can't sleep.............. BUMP!

NicksMixedReef · Aug 19, 2015

Interesting topic for discussion.

I know PaulB has run ozone for longer than I've been alive, I'm sure he'll pop on here!

Paul B · Aug 19, 2015

I popped up. I can't answer your questions because I have never run my reef without Ozone. I built my first ozonizer from a neon transformer. It used a ton of electric, made a ton of noise and made very little Ozone, but it had the coolness factor from all the sparking. I love sparks, noise and overkill. Now I have a Sissy, commercially built ozonizer. I think Ozone is the best thing since toilet paper. It's very cool and high tech, even if it is not needed, but I think it is needed. Like Supermodels. and spaghetti.

Diesel · Aug 19, 2015

@Paul B , do you know of the brand you using?
Do the supermodels come with it?
Not so much a spaghetti guy as it makes a mess in my beard.

Paul B · Aug 19, 2015

I don't know what brand it is and I am to tired to go downstairs to look. But I think Ozone is Ozone. Maybe it's Acme Ozone Machine or something like that.

There it is on the wall to the left of my high tech phone, skimmer and boiler thermometer guage.

Breakthecycle2 · Aug 19, 2015

How do you run this and where do I get one?

Paul B · Aug 20, 2015

You buy them at an LFS or on line. You connect it in series with an air pump and feed it into your skimmer.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Aug 20, 2015

As reefers use ozone, it won't impact pH, bacteria, or elements in the water (except to raise the redox form of certain metals like iron or manganese).

What it is primarily good for is making the water very clear with no yellowing from organic matter.

I discuss it in detail in these articles:

Ozone and the Reef Aquarium, Part 1: Chemistry and Biochemistry by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Ozone and the Reef Aquarium, Part 2: Equipment and Safety by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Ozone and the Reef Aquarium, Part 3: Changes in a Reef Aquarium upon Initiating Ozone by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Diesel · Aug 20, 2015

That will keep me quiet for a bit, thanks a bunch.

Bbaz123456 · Aug 20, 2015

I have been running ozone for a few years now. I think it's the same unit as Paul b's. I don't know much of the chemistry behind it. But I do know that it is almost a necessity for very large volumes of water, if you want to be able to see all the way through your tank. I'm sure there's other ways around keeping your water crystal clear, but ozone has worked great for me

Philt56 · Aug 20, 2015

I just looked at Randy's article and he covers everything I mention below, but a quick summary of my issues may keep someone from making the same mistake I did.

Note you also need a controller to control the amount of ozone produced. Also carbon to absorb any ozone escaping from the skimmer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's not as simple as just hooking it up to the skimmer. Also you need ozone resistant tubing to the skimmer. Plain old tubing will break down.

Also ozone in high doses is not good for humans. When I was new to the hobby I bought a small generator with no controller and it ran 24/7. I got headaches from the ozone released in the air, disconnected it and haven't used one since. I have to say though that the water was crystal clear when I had it.

joekool · Aug 20, 2015

Ozotech makes the best units. You'll find that when buying the cheaper units you will wish you had the better unit. I use a ozotech posiden. It is adjustable and you need to set it to the proper dose over time per gallon.

Diesel · Aug 20, 2015

Great points all.
Still doing research.
I have a 72x27x24 tank and IMO it's crystal clear when I look from the left to the right.
If for some reason I run a sock it will foul up with in a day, ugly brown stuff and my Po4 drops to 0.0
When I run no sock my Po4 stays around 0.04 give and take.

pciscott · Aug 20, 2015

I am new to Ozone, but had the equipment for a long time. I have had mine running for three weeks in my 400 and the water is so clear it looks like the fish are floating.

I kind of understand it as adding carbon, that stays more constant and I too recommend the Ozotech generator as it is adjustable so you can set it at a lower constant rate instead of bouncing off a set point on a controller. I am running mine at 50% and letting my ORP come down slow. I started out at about 300 and am up to 360 in 3 weeks with a new ORP probe. I run my tank on the dirty side and had been letting my P04 rise to .16 because gfo seemed to stress my corals more than the P04. In three weeks with no GFO the skim is darker and the P04 was .08.

I have the Marine Technical Concepts reactor and was able to plumb into my return pump to feed. I run their air carbon filter on the output and a BRS large cartridge filter for the lignite carbon.

My corals are looking great and 3 weeks in I only see benifit. I am going to add a auto dryer because the standard ozotech one only lasts me about 2 weeks until I have to cook the media.

I have a fish room in the garage so the health risks were not a thought, also the guys at MTC were very helpful with any questions and have a great diagram on site how works. They also stated that the health risks are overstated at the small amount we run on a reef tank. Adding it is expensive and very technical, but I wish I had put online sooner with how clear the water is.

You can look 8' down my peninsula and it is as clear as looking through the sides.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Aug 21, 2015

FWIW, a few years after setting up ozone on the tank described in the article above, I decided to stop ozone out of concern over HLLE-like issues in two tangs.

While I also changed GAC brands (for the same reason) and cannot be sure which did the trick, and the tang I have now is a different one, the HLLE disappeared. So I no longer run ozone 24/7. Once every few months I run it overnight at a low dose to clear the water, and then shut it back down again.

Amoo · Aug 21, 2015

Diesel said:
Not so much a spaghetti guy as it makes a mess in my beard.

No idea why the Ozone topic continued after this came up. As a fellow beardian, I have to believe the problem appears to be in your technique. Not eating spaghetti is just un-American. Try this video and see if it helps. If this emergency persists through instruction, please feel free to let us know and we will make accommodations to get you the help you need.

Good luck, keep us posted.

007Bond · Aug 21, 2015

Interesting Randy....coming from you...now I'm back on the fence again

Diesel · Aug 21, 2015

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
FWIW, a few years after setting up ozone on the tank described in the article above, I decided to stop ozone out of concern over HLLE-like issues in two tangs.

While I also changed GAC brands (for the same reason) and cannot be sure which did the trick, and the tang I have now is a different one, the HLLE disappeared. So I no longer run ozone 24/7. Once every few months I run it overnight at a low dose to clear the water, and then shut it back down again.

So you don't have to run it 24/7....... interesting.
What kind of tang was it that you suspect the ozone might contribute to the HLLE?

Diesel · Aug 21, 2015

Amoo said:
No idea why the Ozone topic continued after this came up. As a fellow beardian, I have to believe the problem appears to be in your technique. Not eating spaghetti is just un-American. Try this video and see if it helps. If this emergency persists through instruction, please feel free to let us know and we will make accommodations to get you the help you need.

Good luck, keep us posted.

I've lived in Italy for a few month in the year just to do the prep on the track season back in the early 80's and most Italians eat spaghetti with their hands or you just roll it, if you had trouble with it you eat a spaghetti pizza.......... WHAT? Never heard of that?
And everyday ppl out of the land that looks like a booth don't have beards, all thought when I was there.