9410DC with ozone

[ReefHog]

@rvitko I am running a Poseidon 220 ozone generator on my 150 gallon reef. I have a Whisper 40 air pump to supply air to the ozone generator. This pump is rated at 1.3 L/min. A little less than what Tunze recommends. I piped it to the ozone port on my 9410DC. I set the dial to #3 which is where I determined it should be set. I put a carbon sponge on top of the skimmer collection cup. Right away I could smell ozone in the room. I lowered the set point to #2 and it seemed like less of an ozone odor. I set it to #1, which is practically off and while it was better, I could still smell ozone. I then took the outlet tubing and ran it outside. The smell went away completely. I hooked it back up to the skimmer and it was back. So I know the smell is coming from the skimmer. Next I installed a "T" fitting on the air line to the skimmer pump and hooked up the ozone to that so that I am now bypassing the anti-over-foaming chamber. I confirmed that the air line tubing was still sucking with the ozone generator air pump on. Now with it set to #1 I don't smell anything unless I put my head right above the skimmer. At #2 I can smell it more but only with my head in the sump area. At #3, I can smell it in the adjacent room. Everything seems to be hooked up properly. I've discussed this with other people with different skimmers and they do not have this issue unless its turned way up. Since Tunze skimmers appeared to be designed for use with ozone, i would think I would not be having this ozone escaping the skimmer issue. Am I missing something? Any ideas on whats going on?

 

[rvitko]

A protein skimmer is not a very efficient ozone reactor, when using ozone in a skimmer the purpose is a very low dose to clarify water and in some cases boost skimming. This is a relatively strong ozonizer, if the purpose of ozone use is to sterilize the water where a high dose is needed, it should be done in a dedicated reactor as a hyperbaric reactor is what would really increase the reaction. The general guideline for the purposes of skimming is only around 5 mg/hr per 25 gallons of water, it is a very low dose. Beyond this dose, some ozone will escape unreacted, this would be less on a larger skimmer with a bigger volume/higher riser. You could place a bag of carbon above the vents in the lid to capture escaping ozone, but the best would be a much lower dose of ozone, typically with no drier you will halve the output of most ozonizers.

 

[ReefHog]

I was shooting for 10 mg/hr per gallon which would be 66 mg/h ozone at dial set point #3 with the air dryer hooked up, which I have. This probably works fine on taller skimmers or reactors. 5mg/hr per gallon would bring it to 30 mg/hr ozone or just over #1 on the set point dial which just happens to be the mark where the smell starts going away. After looking at the 9410 spec sheet, it actually says 1mg/hr per gallon. I think I'll remove the air dryer which should make it a little less efficient and give me a little more room to fine tune the generator. Thanks for the input. It is very helpful.

 

[rvitko]

Yes, the amount of ozone it takes to make the water clear and slightly boost skimming is very small, when the ozone level gets higher, you actually stop skimming as the ozone is essentially burning the waste and there is nothing left for the skimmer. 1 mg/hr tends to be the limit where skimming improves, much past that it skims but it is more clear as most of the waste has been oxidized, and when you get way up there, their is nothing left for the skimmer to do. I use ozone myself but in short doses, 30 minutes every 4 hours and I have a 100mg/hr with no dryer on a 265 with a 9430. My goal is just to keep the water clear. A lot of experts say it can be harmful in large steady doses and lead to HLLE on fish, in seems to strip a lot of amino/vitamins and reacts with iodine and bromine.

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

for what its worth i have the oxotech 400 mg , an air dryer, and a bigger skimmer and if i did not have the skimmer cup piped to a carbon chamber it would smell like ozone at the top of the skimmer...
if you want to totally control the ozone you need to use a reactor instead of a skimmer.

 

[ReefHog]

All great info. Im sure I was just adding more ozone than the skimmer could handle. I’m going to shoot for the 5mg/hr per gallon and then fine tune it so I’m not smelling ozone outside the sump. If I decide I want to add more, I’ll look into a reactor. And I have noticed that my skimate is lighter than normal. And it is also way easier to clean the collection cup. I can almost just rinse it out with running water instead of using a coffee bowl brush.

 

[1ocean]

I am about to add ozone reactor to my sump. Been doing a lot of reading and asking question about this subject. I found that alot of people using a second smaller skimmer just for the output of the ozone reactor. I am going with a ozone reactor with a air dryer and a post carbon reactor and a second skimmer. I made this choice from all that I have learned here on R2R

 

[Mark Gray]

@rvitko I am running a Poseidon 220 ozone generator on my 150 gallon reef. I have a Whisper 40 air pump to supply air to the ozone generator. This pump is rated at 1.3 L/min. A little less than what Tunze recommends. I piped it to the ozone port on my 9410DC. I set the dial to #3 which is where I determined it should be set. I put a carbon sponge on top of the skimmer collection cup. Right away I could smell ozone in the room. I lowered the set point to #2 and it seemed like less of an ozone odor. I set it to #1, which is practically off and while it was better, I could still smell ozone. I then took the outlet tubing and ran it outside. The smell went away completely. I hooked it back up to the skimmer and it was back. So I know the smell is coming from the skimmer. Next I installed a "T" fitting on the air line to the skimmer pump and hooked up the ozone to that so that I am now bypassing the anti-over-foaming chamber. I confirmed that the air line tubing was still sucking with the ozone generator air pump on. Now with it set to #1 I don't smell anything unless I put my head right above the skimmer. At #2 I can smell it more but only with my head in the sump area. At #3, I can smell it in the adjacent room. Everything seems to be hooked up properly. I've discussed this with other people with different skimmers and they do not have this issue unless its turned way up. Since Tunze skimmers appeared to be designed for use with ozone, i would think I would not be having this ozone escaping the skimmer issue. Am I missing something? Any ideas on whats going on?

I was running Ozone in my skimmers tryed a few different skimmers also with Ozone, I found they usually almost stop skimming after awhile. I recently bought an Avast Marine Ozone reactor, I love this thing. No Ozone smell at all and it's easily adjustable. Good luck

 

[1ocean]

I was running Ozone in my skimmers tryed a few different skimmers also with Ozone, I found they usually almost stop skimming after awhile. I recently bought an Avast Marine Ozone reactor, I love this thing. No Ozone smell at all and it's easily adjustable. Good luck

Yep. I am going to do the same set up... on my 300...

 

[rvitko]

For all practical purposes, when you run ozone you are "burning" what the skimmer would remove in a chemical reaction, this is not always a good thing, break down products remain in the aquarium and they are too broken down for skimmer removal. A very low dose of ozone is useful to clarify the water and in some limited cases, may break things down to render them more skimmable, but with high doses, skimming is typically greatly reduced or non existant. If you are going to run high doses, a reactor and monitoring and a way to capture escaping ozone is critical, ozone can kill, it is very dangerous for birds and cats in particular and if you experience a migraine, that is a warning that you have been exposed to dangerous levels and should immediately air out the house and get fresh air. My advice would be to run and maintain a UV sterilizer for sterilizing and use ozone in only very low doses for a clarifying effect, sterilizing doses get to be dangerous quickly.

 

[ReefHog]

I switched to the 30 minutes every four hours schedule on my 220 gallon predator mixed reef. Seems to be working good. I still do start smelling ozone but by the time I really notice it, it is already shutting down for four hours. This tank is in my basement. On my 150 SPS reef in my office, I switched to a Scotching Oxydator which seems to be giving me the same results as ozone all-be-it without oxygen bubbles forming on rocks. Water is definitely more clear and there is still plenty of skimate but the skimate is lighter brown in color and easier to clean on both tanks.

 

[1ocean]

Yep ordered poseidon 200 and ordered avast ozone reactor w carbon reactor and using a second skimmer for the whole set up.