Ozone. Why don't we use it anymore?

[five.five-six]

Paul, how many MG unit are you running? What size tank?

 

[Want2BS8ed]

Geeze Paul. How about we buy you a beer and you can tell us how you really feel! LOL

First, let me repeat, I am an O3 fan and long time user, and there is no arguing with what you have said and the success you have had over the years, however it needs to be put into context of the user's goals.

If you want to break down organics and yellowing to improve skimmer efficiency then what you have described works.

If you want to really drive ORP levels up and nuke everything that comes into contact with O3 (including algae spores), you are going to need a dedicated reactor, carbon and some method of controlling the substantially higher levels of O3 you are pumping into the system.

Then there are the "new" old Berlin methods of reef keeping that rely on a lot of living goop circulating through the system. Here in my opinion, the indiscriminate scrubbing power of O2 works a little to well.

Now I have to come clean, while I am not currently using O3, the skimmer went in with provisions for it - theories are nice, but I'm ready to go back to what I know pretty quickly if needed and if that doesn't answer then I still have the O3 reactor that can go online. Water is definitely not as clear, but so far, Ozone hasn't been needed.

Dryers? Done it both with and without. Driers make O3 generators more efficient. Then again a bicycle will get you from point A to point B, but my I3 will do it more efficiently and faster as would the M4 convertible I traded in on it, albeit at increasingly more cost. Again depends on your goals.

Danger? Maybe not as dire as everyone makes it out to be, but done wrong it can lead to some pretty knarly headaches. Been there too.

As for Old Wives, I listen to one every day because I happen to be married to her. For the record, I'm old too... actually have achieved official curmudgeon status!

So before using O3 and before deciding how to use it, I would encourage potential users to think about what you want O3 to do for you first and then work backwards from there on how complicated you want to make it.

M

 

[hart24601]

I ran it but didn't see any changes in the system so I didn't feel there was any need to continue. It also seems there are amazing tanks of all sorts imaginable that do not run ozone, so the reason I think it's not used as much is seeing so many amazing tanks that don't use it, plus equipment and complexity. Back in the ozone prime SPS tanks were somewhat rare and it just really wasn't know what all was need and what wasn't.

However if I had a huge system that had issues with yellow water I would have no issues running one.

 

[Paul B]

Paul, how many MG unit are you running? What size tank?

I run a 200 mg Ozone generator on a 100 gallon tank which I really think is a 90 gallon tank so it has about 70 gallons of water in it. My water is always crystal clear even though my nitrates are 160.
You can't see my water at all and some of my fish are afraid of heights so they stay on the gravel because they think they will fall. As a matter of fact, I dove in Bora Bora and I jumped in the water where it was 120' deep and you literally think you will fall to the bottom, thats how clear it is. And when I got to the bottom, you could clearly see the boat.

But anyway. I will always run Ozone. If it does anything I have no idea but how bad could it be? I didn't grow two heads and I am older then dirt, and I am not talking about Home Depot Top Soil, I am talking about real dirt that the Roman Empire fell on when they collapsed.
My fish are all smiling even the 26 year olds so I doubt it is bad unless you are listening to an old wife, which I also have

Now this is a Man Skimmer, none of those Sissy Mamby Pamby skimmers that go in a sump and hide. Ozone cringes when it goes in here and is eliminated in the first two feet of the thing.
That is my Ozonizer on the wall, next to my very cool, brass boiler temperature gauge.
That phone is really a cell phone, the 50 foot cord is just there so I don't lose it.

 

[five.five-six]

Man skimmer? I run a euroreef CS180, that skimmer is so manly it has a beard.

 

[Paul B]

Did you build it?

 

[hart24601]

I thought real mean don’t need no silly skimmer. Hike up ur dresses ladies, no need to overcompensate.

 

[five.five-six]

I’m not really sure where this thread is headed but I like it!

 

[Paul B]

Real Men build everything and the only tools we need are cro bars, chain saws. and sometimes a bag of concrete, already hardened.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

IMO, the benefit is less yellow water. I don’t think most hobbyists use it in a way to get any other significant benefits. FWIW, the ozone reacts with colored compounds to reduce yellowing without actually removing the organic from the water.

I used it for years, but had some HLLE-like issues that went away when I stopped it and stopped using Marineland Black Diamond GAC and switched to ROX 0.8. The actual cause could have been either or both the GAC and the ozone.

 

[five.five-six]

I thought real mean don’t need no silly skimmer. Hike up ur dresses ladies, no need to overcompensate.

I thought real men didn’t have to talk about how manly they are.


As my LGBT friends use to say: It’s the squeaky wheel that wants to get greased.

LOL

 

[five.five-six]

IMO, the benefit is less yellow water. I don’t think most hobbyists use it in a way to get any other significant benefits. FWIW, the ozone reacts with colored compounds to reduce yellowing without actually removing the organic from the water.

I used it for years, but had some HLLE-like issues that went away when I stopped it and stopped using Marineland Black Diamond GAC and switched to ROX 0.8. The actual cause could have been either or both the GAC and the ozone.

I do run GAC “as needed” but my fear is deprecation of trace elements. I know this can be mitigated with daily small WCs but I just don’t have the time for that level of husbandry.

Is O3 a good supplemental method for clarifying water? I’m considering a 50 Mg unit for my 135 SPS. I won’t be building it myself but I may paint a beard on it, just to make it more manly. In my estimation, 53mg on that sized tank is small enough that it wouldn’t require redox control.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I do run GAC “as needed” but my fear is deprecation of trace elements. I know this can be mitigated with daily small WCs but I just don’t have the time for that level of husbandry.

Is O3 a good supplemental method for clarifying water? I’m considering a 50 Mg unit for my 135 SPS. I won’t be building it myself but I may paint a beard on it, just to make it more manly. In my estimation, 53mg on that sized tank is small enough that it wouldn’t require redox control.

IME, it doesn’t require much ozone to clear the water and need not be run 24/7. [emoji3]

 

[XNavyDiver]

An air drier is recommended but not needed. It just cuts down a little on the effectiveness. But even without an air drier, If I put a piece of iron near the output of my ozonizer for a day, it would rust. That means it is working. Now you could call a lab to come over and test it or buy an ORP meter, ask Oprah Winfrey, hire a chemist or do any number of other expensive things. But if you stick the air hose up your nose, you will know immediately if it is working or not. Trust me.
I also don't use carbon because I don't like carbon. There are a lot of things I don't like but I will limit this to carbon for now. Too many people talk to old wifes because almost all the information in this hobby comes from Old Wife tales.
If Ozone is escaping into your house, you will smell it immediately. And if you do, it is not nerve gas or Anthrax. It won't kill you or turn your kids into tree frogs, those nice orange ones.

I have a 5' trough that runs the length of my tank just above the water that the skimmer empties into. Any residual ozone, which there never is, will be disapated in there. But if your skimmer is big enough, the ozone will be used up way before it enters your house. If you have one of those little Sissy Mary skimmers, don't use Ozone. Forget about it and go out to dinner.
If an air drier is needed because the little moisture in the air it will degrade ozone, wouldn't it get degraded in a skimmer that is full of water. Come on, think about that.

Ozone is a fantastic piece of machinery that oxidizes organics like food, fish pee, fish poop, fish saliva etc. And it leaves nothing in the water. In the 40 years I have been using it I am on my third one. They cost about $100.00 but I get them used here because people that listen to old wifes, think they are dangerous and their wife makes them sell it so she can buy new high heels which she doesn't really need.
Everybody with a tank older than mine who does not use Ozone, raise your hand.....Higher.

 

[Paul B]

I used it for years, but had some HLLE-like issues that went away when I stopped it and stopped using Marineland Black Diamond GAC and switched to ROX 0.8. The actual cause could have been either or both the GAC and the ozone.

I disagree that either one is the cause of HLLE.

I thought real men didn’t have to talk about how manly they are.


As my LGBT friends use to say: It’s the squeaky wheel that wants to get greased.

LOL

And I squeek when I walk.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I disagree that either one is the cause

They may not be, but I never found any other solution till I made that change. [emoji3]

 

[aquariumreefers]

Most international reefers still use ozone in QT tanks but havent seen one in the states in a while last one I saw on a system was at a wholesaler qt system back in 2010.

 

[five.five-six]

And I squeek when I walk.

Um, yea, that’s not helping LOL

 

[DCR]

I also found that Marineland GAC caused HLLE within days on my FO tanks back in the 80'S.

 

[Scott Campbell]

I visited a breeding operation once that pumped in water from the ocean - sterilizing the daylights out of the water with ozone before the water flowed through the breeding tanks. That seemed a rational, proper and effective use of ozone.

Limited use of ozone in a closed system seems an odd concept to me. Ozone seems like an all or nothing endeavor. Either you sterilize all the water or you don't sterilize all the water. There is no real middle ground. I would completely agree with Randy that all you are doing is breaking down visible organic compounds into less visible (but perhaps more toxic and reactive?) compounds.