Ozone

[NjOyRiD]

anyone here add ozone into their Tank? I'd like to know how you guys do it? thanx

[JD]

I used this ozone generator. Injected into my skimmer.

http://www.cwtozone.com/index.php?page=s-1200

[NjOyRiD]

and where did you pût your carbon to not let ozone escape in the air?

[JD]

I did not bother with carbon for the air, however, I did run the discharge water from the skimmer over several carbon bags before it went back into the tank.

[NjOyRiD]

nice, you should take a picture

[redbelly]

I also run that Ozone generator and I dont bother with the carbon either.
My sump though is big enough for any ozone to react before it returns to the display.

[NjOyRiD]

if i have a 100g sump , and a 75g Fuge, Am I okay to run ozone without carbon?
where did you guys plug that ozone in the skimmer?

..i have a home made skimemr with a mazzei injector...

[redbelly]

Well it is good to run carbon on the top of the collection cup where the air escapes. And it is probably good to run it on the output of the skimmer but to be honest I am really not sure where the breaking point is between save with no carbon and not safe it. One of my sumps is a total of 16 feet and the other one is 240g. I would think 100g is big enough, but I cant say for sure.

What type of ozone generator are you going to run?
What is the mg output and at whats air flow?

[NjOyRiD]

this is what i have pat

http://www.enaly.com/ozx-300u.html

[redbelly]

Interesting unit.
Can you service the Corona discharge wire?
You will need to run a good air dryer with this unit for longevity.

Yes you can hook this up directly to your mazzei injector on the skimmer but you may want to use an air flow meter if you want to optimize your ozone production as I have a good feeling that the mazzei will try and draw more air than what this generator would ideal output.

[NjOyRiD]

alright thank you pat, if I have probs, i'll let you know

ps: wil lthat help with hair algea?

[az]

I personally think you do not need ozone in your home tanks, I have seen some places(industrial) use them but there systems are 20000gal+ housing 1000s of fish coming in going out everyday. Ozone is cancerous (its proven) and using it without proper procedure in your home or business is just wrong. Businesses that use them use proper discharge and also have them in a seperate room as you can still smell it.

[redbelly]

Sorry but I have never smelled free ozone here. Even when I run ozone in my living room. Ozone is perfectly safe if you use it appropriately and is often required for heavily loaded systems to maintain a high redox. It also makes a huge difference on improving water clarity.

For example on Trina's 24g Non-photo cardiff aquarium. This tank requires feeding every hour and as such there is a crazy bioload on the tank dispite the fact that there is only 2 small fish in the tank.
With a skimmer, but without ozone the water become discolored very quickly even with large weekly water changes.
But when we are running ozone on the tank we are able to maintain perfect clarity and a redox above 350mv.
This extra step to clean the water is critical to the health of most non-photo synthetic corals.

And on our coral systems we rotate a 350mg ozone generator between the different systems to increase the ORP and improve clarity.

Industrial units are setup very different from the tiny units that we use at home here. I am sure I can find a pic of the ozone unit that was being used at the Camden aquarium that we got a behind the scenes tour of. A quick glance and you will see the huge difference in the home units vs the industrial units.

Any one remember when Calfo visited Ottawa?
He highly recomended the use of ozone on the home aquarium.

[redbelly]

Here is a post from Calfo actually from marine depot that corresponds the use of ozone on the home aquarium:

as many of you know... I am brutally aggressive about nutrient export (low bioloads in my tank, but heavy feedings and heavier water changes, dual skimmers, etc). I aim for and get my ORP levels to hang steady at about 400mv for my efforts. And it takes little ozone for me to do it (50 mg unit or smaller per 100 gall tank).

an optimal range IMO is 350-425mv... but many fine tanks operate around 300-325mv

Just try not to dip below 300mv else you are likely to see nuisance algae take a foothold (providing nutrients are available and they likely will be if the RedOx has fallen that low)

.

Anthony Calfo 

[redbelly]

Here is a pic of a commercial sized unit at a public aquarium. I also included a pic of Trina as a size referance as this thing is just cool

[attachment deleted by admin]

[az]

When Anthony Calfo was here I do not remember him suggesting ozone for home tanks but I do see his post, he did tell me that I may have to look into using ozone for our 2000gal fish only system but only if everything else fails. Lot of big stores/distributors wont use ozone because it takes a lot to make it user safe or bring it to acceptable level.   

[redbelly]

Not too many of the distributors in Toronto use ozone but about 50% of them did use ozone and UV steralizers when we were in LA recently. (on their fish systems anyways)

Quite a good part of Calfo's presentation was focused on ozone and exactly how easy it is to use. Although he does not advise it as a rule of thumb (and wont write it in his book) he actually bubble ozone directly into his tank with a little treasure chest bubble. He did stress though that he was a huge advocate for using ozone and that it was very easy to do so in a safe manner. All you need is:
1) Carbon on the output of your ozone reactor/skimmer running ozone to catch free ozone coming out of the unit
2) carbon on top of the skimmer cup if its drilled for air escape or on top of collection resevoir (basically where ever your air escapes from your skimmer)
3) a redox controller to turn on the ozone generator at low levels and turn it off at high levels

I am not sure how many people here work in an office but anyone that has ever walked into a print shop has smelled that sort of crisp smell in the air from the photo coppiers. That unique smell is ozone! Photo coppiers use a HUGE corona discharge wire to trasfer the ink for making copies and are supposed to have carbon filters in the machine to "scrub" the air before you inhale it but often these filters are left in use way past their service life.

Ozone has a VERY distinct smell, its not like carbon monoxide or something similar. IMO it is perfectly safe to use, but of course you have to use a bit of common sense. If you are running ozone and can smell it in the air then you need run carbon (or change your existing carbon). Its that simple. Ozone is highly unstable so even a short contact time to carbon will destabalize it.

Controllers are an absolute must for running ozone though or you could increase your redox WAY above the safe point even over night.
A lot of the smaller and cheaper units realistically you can run them full tilt and even with an air dryer they will never raise your redox too high, but again the only way to know this is to have an actual controller.

The safe use of ozone sounds like a great topic for Salty Sundays though! I have several different units too that I can bring out to show people and explain the ups and downs of each design type.

[redbelly]

Oh, I mentioned an air dryer before. You will need one to run a corona discharge. They do have them at princess auto sometimes but they are also crazy easy to build if you want to give it a shot. Basically its just a straight tube with a nipple on one end and open to let air in on the other. Your corona discharge ozone unit should draw air from the air dryer AT ALL TIMES.
No harm will come to you if it doesnt, but it will corode the corona wire and once the corona wire corodes your ozone production will decrease significantly. I have a ozone generator here with a corona plate (as opposed to the wire) and without and air dryer the unit is barely outputting any ozone at after about a month of run time.

Basically it will greatly increase the service life of this unit and HUGELY improve the performance.

A color changing resin is nice as it lets you know when they need to be changed/dried but not as effective as some other types of media.

[JetJumper]

If you are into the Do it yourself OZone Generator, you can make one of these


They product a lot of ozone!   I know from experience!  (Not actually using it for the ozone aspect but it sure did generate a lot.)

As a smaller item you can make a Jacobs ladder


This is just ideas for anyone who wants to try something.

[az]

I have not seen a single published study that says ozone is 100% safe to use, or recommends that you dont have to use carbon where you are suppose to. I have also visited all those places and I know for sure none of them use ozone in their reefs, less than 50% use them in their fish only systems and those systems are huge.