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Ozonizer Experince wanted

Tazmaniancowboy said:
Could it be used occasionally? Just to "polish"water?

Tazmaniancowboy

This is possibly one of the better reasons to use ozone. It should still be used in a skimmer, and all the other stuff I mentioned in my other post apply. Using ozone through an airstone in the sump or tank is a good way to kill everything in it.
 
Edward771 said:
We will see I'll take the lead of one of the guru's of our hobby and find out. Mr. Calfo has seen thousands of tanks all over the world I think he knows a thing or two about reef tanks.

That is something I worry about with the gurus of this hobby. Many of them only seem to know "a thing or two" about reef systems. I'm not trying to be flip, but look at most of the people in the hobby. Most are expert only in one or two areas. With all due respect to Mr. Calfo, who is a great speaker, and he has written some excellent books on the hobby, going by any one person's advice, in this hobby, is looking for a stomping.

There is very little scientific research done on the subject of reef systems. Most of what we do is trial and error, and we slowly creep forward with way that are better than before, but we have no way of knowing if we are using the best possible method.

I would be very hard pressed to take any single persons advice, with out good sound reasons to back it up.

Case in point. Before reef systems, the recommended filtration system for a SW tank was a large outside filter used with undergravel filters. Yes, it sort of worked, but how many use that today?

Some of the people in the tropical fish hobby may remember Herbert Axelrod. (If not see bio here (offsite link) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_R._Axelrod ) You'll see among the books he wrote and published was Saltwater Aquarium Fishes. If you can find a copy of the book, read it and compare it to what's out there today. By today's standards the book is worthless, but it was "state of the art" at the time.
 
Please understand. I consider ozone to be of use in some special circumstances.

I do believe that most people don't need ozone, and I do want anyone considering it to be sure they are really going to gain something with it's use.

So I point out the possible problems and the possible advantages of ozone.
 
I think Dave's point is not really about ozone. It's that you are valuing an "expert's" opinion too heavily. The experts prior to 1982 said ulcers was caused by stress and diet. It took 12 more years before it was even accepted that H. pylori, a bacterium, was accepted as being the cause of duodenal ulcers. You should be the expert of your own system and you should do what you think is best for it. Is ozone a good idea for your system? Maybe. Maybe not. Worth trying if you can afford it. Calfo is an excellent speaker and he has done the hobby a lot of good. He is a great fan of anemone fragging and there were many naysayers out there before watching him perform these operations. Just take his advice with a grain of salt. Ask him about ich sometime. If what I hear is true, you would be surprised at his thoughts on it.
 

Edwardw771

NJRC Member
Ok so do you guys have any pictures of your tanks before and after ozone. I know Stan uses it and JStoner in his 500 gallon uses it. I'm not just saying everything that guru's write is the way to do a reef. I'm saying the guy was at my house and looked at my tank and said it will help my corals and water clarity. It was an honor to have him here. I have spoke to Calfo about ich and fish QTs in general. His talk at our swap had information about treating fish and QTing them. It was great information.

I know words we write are often lost in translation on the net but it sure seems like everyone is super critical of everything lately. I shouldn't need a lawyer to defend the things I want to do with my tank. If you have experience share it, if you have an opinion that you want to force down everyones throat trust me your not helping.
 

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I'm interested to see how it goes, Ed. I ran ozone for a little bit but the unit we were running did nothing for our system (it wasn't raising our orp which we were monitoring/controlling with our ACII). The unit was second hand so I don't know if it was the unit, our system or what. I'd be interested in trying it again though with parts that we bought ourselves (v. using a second hand unit that we weren't sure really worked).

RichT bought our air driers. I wonder if he had any success with it.

Also, make sure that you only raise the orp by so much (find the safe number through research) per day/week as it could hurt to raise it too fast. Also if you clear your water too fast you could bleach/kill everything, so again slow and steady. Good luck. Take lots of progress pictures along the way!!
 

danthemanj

FRAG SWAP VENDOR
I used ozone on my 90 gallon for over a year and it didn't make much difference, but then again I wasn't using it to its fullest potential. The biggest issue with using ozone is increasing the contact time with your tank water. The longer the contact time, the better the results. I've looked into buying the MTC Ozone Reactor, using a skimmer and also making my own reactor but I feel that the simplest and best design (IMHO) is the one posted on Reefkeeping.com using a simple tube reactor. I would probably increase the length of the pipe though. The most efficient way to use ozone is by using a skimmer but that comes with its headaches of having to run both the effluent and air over carbon while a tubing reactor has a single outlet and hence needs only one carbon filter.

I'd also recommend investing in a good ORP controller. The Red Sea ORP Probes have all sorts of memory issues, etc. and give you inaccurate readings.
 

mikem

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Ed. Research wetwebmedia. They had a lot of good info on ozone. Michele was also very helpfull and will explane in laymans terms to you.
 

sgarron

NJRC Member
Mike,

I was wondering if you have noticed a difference in cleaning your tank's front glass? One thing I missed about using the ozone was that I used to clean the glass maybe once a week as opposed to daily without it. I felt between that and the clearer water it was a great addition to the tank. I'll have to look into a way to filter the air better so it can't be detected in the house. That was the one thing that scared me, because of the kids.
 

mikem

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Yes. Big difference. I thank you for the great deal.
At first, I had it hooked up to my MTC becket skimmer.I was getting the ozone smell once in a while. I read more about it and hooked it up to my Euro Reef with the recirc. Never had a problem again.
 

sgarron

NJRC Member
I thought so. I think once this system is up and running, I'll see if I can find a way to squeeze another Ozotech in there.
 
Phyl said:
...
RichT bought our air driers. I wonder if he had any success with it.

...

Air driers are something else I have tried with ozone. The good side is that they do remove water vapor from the air and this just about doubles the amount of ozone produced. The down side is that even with a large air drier, it will have exhausted it's media in about 3 days to 10 days, depending on how humid the air is.

It's usually easier to just get a bigger ozonizer, but it's also handy to have the air drier when you want a quick boost of ozone.

Using ozone with a controller is a good way to go if you already have a controller with an ORP function. While not strictly necessary, using the controller can help prevent over use of ozone. You simply set the off point for ozone at a point a bit above your tanks current level and work up if needed. Keep in mind that many factors effect ORP readings, includeing pH, so be careful how you interpret them.
 
I have a quick ozone question. I was told that most women get headaches from ozone and that it has something to do with a woman's physiology. Has anyone else heard this or had any experiences with this? I don't need a to give the wife anything else to complain about in addition to the smell of my curing live rock.
 
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