An ozone question for you Mr. Farley

[dodgerblew]

This question was asked on my local forum on RC. I wanted to repeat it here for you with the intention of relaying your response back on RC. I hope this is okay and I hope you can help. Here it is and thank you:

Ozone question. Canyon Fire.... Please advise
I was affected by the Canyon 2 fire because when my neighborhood was evacuated, I was not home. Someone decided to bash open my window to let my barking dog out. Of course they chose the biggest window and one that is directly in the path of the smoke coming from both the wildfire and from my neighbors houses on the street below me which burned to the ground. Because of the broken window my house was filled with smoke and now has a layer of ash and soot throughout. My tank seems fine but I had to file an insurance claim since my house became an ash tray. The smoke mitigation company said the last step of the extensive cleaning process is typically to run ozone throughout the entire house and nobody can enter the house for a few days after the ozone stops. If I need this done do you think the ozone will kill my tank? I've never run ozone in my tank before so I don't know much about it. Obviously if it's run in my entire house the levels would be pretty high. Also do you think there is anything I should be concerned about for my family after the ozone treatment is done? Does ozone completely dissipate?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Wow, sorry to hear this.

I presume they use ozone to try to kill off odors.

I would be concerned about the tank, but I cannot know how concerned without knowing something about how much ozone they intend to use.

To mitigate the risk, cover the tank top and any exposed surfaces, pull air from outside to a skimmer and/or airstone, and use lots of GAC which breaks down ozone and its toxic products in seawater.

In an emergency I once spread GAC across my entire sump bottom, and something like that can be useful.

 

[dodgerblew]

Thank you. I'll copy your reply for him

 

[dodgerblew]

It must be enough to not allow humans in for a few days after treatment

 

[ryshark]

Dodgerblew,
Thanks for posting this for me on here. Although I haven't signed in to reef2reef in a long time, I do browse the vendor section often. I'm happy to be back here.
Mr. Holmes-Farley,
Thank you for your input. I'm going to try to find out how much ozone they use. In regards to covering the tank, do you think something like a damp beach towel would be good?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

That may be enough, yes.

 

[rushbattle]

I hope it works out for you! I just missed major disaster with Hurricane Harvey, but I’m also dealing with with mitigation efforts as well from power loss. Please let us know the outcome, I have my fingers crossed!

Also, Dr. Holmes-Farley has been incredibly generous with his dedication to furthering the understanding of many important topics within our hobby; I think I would be remiss to fail to point out that he properly deserves the prefix Dr. for his successful defense of a doctoral dissertation at Harvard, and further proved the worthiness of the title with his contributions to many important modern applications of polymer science. I get the feeling that he doesn’t care, but that won’t stop me from pointing out that we respect and appreciate his work and he deserves more than anyone else I know the title.

 

[dodgerblew]

Dodgerblew,
Thanks for posting this for me on here. Although I haven't signed in to reef2reef in a long time, I do browse the vendor section often. I'm happy to be back here.
Mr. Holmes-Farley,
Thank you for your input. I'm going to try to find out how much ozone they use. In regards to covering the tank, do you think something like a damp beach towel would be good?

You're welcome. Happy to help

 

[dodgerblew]

I hope it works out for you! I just missed major disaster with Hurricane Harvey, but I’m also dealing with with mitigation efforts as well from power loss. Please let us know the outcome, I have my fingers crossed!

Also, Dr. Holmes-Farley has been incredibly generous with his dedication to furthering the understanding of many important topics within our hobby; I think I would be remiss to fail to point out that he properly deserves the prefix Dr. for his successful defense of a doctoral dissertation at Harvard, and further proved the worthiness of the title with his contributions to many important modern applications of polymer science. I get the feeling that he doesn’t care, but that won’t stop me from pointing out that we respect and appreciate his work and he deserves more than anyone else I know the title.

Thank you for the clarification. I was unaware.

 

[rushbattle]

Thank you for the clarification. I was unaware.

Thanks, and the real thanks goes to @Randy Holmes-Farley !

 

[ryshark]

Dr. Holmes-Farley,

After expressing concern to the smoke mitigation company about my reef tank and ozone, they suggested a hydroxyl generator as an alternative. I've never heard of hydroxyl before, but after googling I found out that it is safe to run with people around. However some say it can damage DNA. Ugh, this whole situation has been beyond stressful. Any insight on hydroxyls?
Thanks

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

To be honest, I do not know what is safer/less safe for a reef tank, ozone and its byproducts (e.g., BrO-), or hydroxyl radicals and its byproducts (e.g., Br2-).

 

[ryshark]

The good news is that most of the smoke smell went away so I told the mitigation company that I don't want ozone or hydroxyls and we moved back in. The bad news is that after the pulled the insulation out of the attic they painted an alcohol based shellac in my attic to seal any smoke smell in the wood. I never would have guessed that the alcohol from the strong shellac smell in the house that was locked up because we were still living in a hotel at that time would cause a nasty bacterial bloom in my tank. The SPS is not happy, the one wild frag I have is RTNing right now and the other acros have hardly any polyp extension. The tank is very cloudy and has slimy white bacteria in the water column. I found out that it was from the paint from another thread I read in the other forum where the reefer opened a barrel of bourbon where the smell permeated throughout the house. He used Dr. Tims to fight it. Any suggestions with this new problem? I never would have guessed painting my attic with alcohol based shellac would affect my tank.

 

[ryshark]

I forgot to mention that my water actually smells like the shellac. I know for sure none actually got in the tank, its just from the VOCs. I ordered some ROX .08 yesterday to help with the smell, but I still have the Cloudy bacteria water to deal with. Any advise greatly appreciated

 

[DBH2017]

I forgot to mention that my water actually smells like the shellac. I know for sure none actually got in the tank, its just from the VOCs. I ordered some ROX .08 yesterday to help with the smell, but I still have the Cloudy bacteria water to deal with. Any advise greatly appreciated

The water in the tank will absorb some of the alcohol and other VOCs. You have basically been carbon dosing, which is likely the cause of the bacteria bloom. Water change, water change, water change. Maybe Purigen too.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I forgot to mention that my water actually smells like the shellac. I know for sure none actually got in the tank, its just from the VOCs. I ordered some ROX .08 yesterday to help with the smell, but I still have the Cloudy bacteria water to deal with. Any advise greatly appreciated

Sorry, missed the last question.

How did it turn out?