Ozone thread

[Miami Reef]

Question:

My ORP without ozone has a high of 430 And a low of 330. Can I use ozone to make my tank clearer?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Question:

My ORP without ozone has a high of 430 And a low of 330. Can I use ozone to make my tank clearer?

Yes. ORP need not rise much at all for ozone use to make the water clearer.

 

[Miami Reef]

Thanks @Randy Holmes-Farley

I read from an ozone user that the plausible reason why my ORP reads pretty high is because the probe needs to be cleaned.

They mentioned something about using bleach, but when I look online I see mention of using bleach vs using some sort of acid (lIke vinegar).

Do you have any information on cleaning/calibrating my ORP probe? My ozone will arrive in a few days and I would like to know the true readings.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

ORP probes are pretty sturdy. Algae on them can raise ORP, apparently.

Bleach or acid is OK, but after bleach it may take a good while to acclimate to the tank water again.

 

[LovinlifeinGuam]

ORP probes are pretty sturdy. Algae on them can raise ORP, apparently.

Bleach or acid is OK, but after bleach it may take a good while to acclimate to the tank water again.

Are there downsides to using ozone? I thought it underwent a chemical reaction that formed a toxic byproduct if dosed too high (I have no idea how toxic or what the margin or error in dosing would have to be for it to be dangerous however)...just wondering if there are downsides and what they may be

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Are there downsides to using ozone? I thought it underwent a chemical reaction that formed a toxic byproduct if dosed too high (I have no idea how toxic or what the margin or error in dosing would have to be for it to be dangerous however)...just wondering if there are downsides and what they may be

Yes, I discuss those issues in detail here:

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

 

[Miami Reef]

@Randy Holmes-Farley

I found pinapple sponges growing over my ORP probe tip.

Seems like a cleaning may be in order.

Would you use bleach?

 

[Miami Reef]

I did the bleach soak for about 10 minutes and did a rinse then plugged the probe back in the apex and placed probe back in the sump.

At first I got a reading of 700 and now it’s 664.

Let‘s see how long it will take to get it back to normal.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Sounds good. I’d keep watching. I even found that calibrating my probe cause it to read high for a while because the ORP standard was much higher ORP than the tank. I expect organics on the probe bound high ORP metals and may have been themselves converted to higher ORP organics. It takes time to come back to equilibrium.

 

[Miami Reef]

Sounds good. I’d keep watching. I even found that calibrating my probe cause it to read high for a while because the ORP standard was much higher ORP than the tank. I expect organics on the probe bound high ORP metals and may have been themselves converted to higher ORP organics. It takes time to come back to equilibrium.

The probe is now reading 300 after a full night.

That seems about right I think. I saw the ORP trend really go up around September 2022.

 

[GARRIGA]

Yes, I discuss those issues in detail here:

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

Randy,

Is there any validity to assuming that Ozone would eliminate or reduce the affects of coral chemical warfare beyond using GAC? My present only need for ozone being that I'm seeking an alternative to WCs and skimmer for reducing these chemicals or perhaps other residuals that may cause harm in a system devoid of WCs and skimmer as we've discussed in the past.

 

[areefer01]

If you do a single water change look at your ORP reading before and after. I know in my case after every water change I see the dip and it takes about a week to recover. Similar pattern although not as low when replacing probes.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If you do a single water change look at your ORP reading before and after. I know in my case after every water change I see the dip and it takes about a week to recover. Similar pattern although not as low when replacing probes.

I think that is due to low ORP trace elements supplied in salt mixes, such as iron in the Fe++ (ferrous) form rather than the higher ORP Fe+++ (ferric) form due to higher solubility.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Randy,

Is there any validity to assuming that Ozone would eliminate or reduce the affects of coral chemical warfare beyond using GAC? My present only need for ozone being that I'm seeking an alternative to WCs and skimmer for reducing these chemicals or perhaps other residuals that may cause harm in a system devoid of WCs and skimmer as we've discussed in the past.

I’d suggest it is a possible hope, but not a guaranteed expectation because it will depend on how easily oxidized the toxins may be.

 

[areefer01]

I think that is due to low ORP trace elements supplied in salt mixes, such as iron in the Fe++ (ferrous) form rather than the higher ORP Fe+++ (ferric) form due to higher solubility.

I defer obviously as that is out of my knowledge :) On the other hand all I can say is how it worked across three salts I've used, maybe 4. Instant ocean, instant ocean reef crystals, tropic marin pro reef, and tropic marin bio actif.

Thank you for the reply as it does make sense. Hope your day is going well!

 

[GARRIGA]

I’d suggest it is a possible hope, but not a guaranteed expectation because it will depend on how easily oxidized the toxins may be.

Assuming it doesn't provide a greater benefit than GAC alone then perhaps I need to rethink this approach. Based on your findings with clarity that's another check that comes off as now the complexity to implement outweighs the benefits gained.

Thank you

 

[blaxsun]

I've been using a OzoTech Poseidon ozone system for about 6 months now and it's definitely made a difference - mainly in reducing the amount of skim collected from the skimmer. But ORP is more stable and the water is clearer as well.

 

[killer2001]

Still debating if I should make the switch to ozone. Has anyone gone with ozone then decided it wasn't for them? Seems like once you go "O", you don't go back. :)

 

[Miami Reef]

Still debating if I should make the switch to ozone. Has anyone gone with ozone then decided it wasn't for them? Seems like once you go "O", you don't go back. :)

I used Ozone. The water clarity was nice.

However, just like Randy decided for himself, I currently only use it sparingly. I didn‘t like the decreased skimmer effect with ozone, and I find a little Ozone lasts a long while. I also had a problem with a tang which seemed like HLLE. I’m still trying to see if Ozone was the cause or not.

I only run it once overnight when I want to decrease the yellowing molecules.

 

[taricha]

Assuming it doesn't provide a greater benefit than GAC alone then perhaps I need to rethink this approach.

they might actually work together in some fashion...

"In a marine mammal pool,18 for example, it was found that disinfection with 4 ppm ozone with a 30 minute contact time (a disinfection level much higher than is typically used in reef aquaria) did not reduce the pool's total organic carbon (TOC) (~13 ppm TOC), while the use of granular activated carbon (GAC) did reduce it by 37%. Interestingly, the combination of ozone and GAC was even more effective, removing 60-78% of the TOC, suggesting that the ozonation may have altered some of the molecules in a way that made them bind more strongly (or more rapidly) to GAC. An alternative explanation that cannot be ruled out involves biological transformations of the organic compounds taking place on the GAC surface as it became colonized with bacteria)."
Randy article
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-03/rhf/index.php#10