Lee Stearns January 31, 2005 Share January 31, 2005 Is anyone using Ozone? What are your impressions? What are the downsides and or maintenance issues with a unit? What type unit are you using? How do you have it feeding into your tan? - Anyone have one hooked to the air intake of a Aqua C? Any good sites to review O3 use? I know lots of questions but wanted some feeback and or a place to review others comments before jumping in. [crzy] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelg January 31, 2005 Share January 31, 2005 Y'up. have had one setup now for 9-12 months. Have a tetraluft airpump driving it. I don't have a controller, but run it under max recommended setting. Output from the unit goes into one of the air intakes on my AquacEV90 (older model, pre-john guest fitting). I don't have an air dryer either, which is supposed to boost performance. The skimmate is far nastier than ever before and good production. The output of skimmer hits bag of carbon, which is supposed to help with excess ozone. Mine is an older Red Sea 100 unit- bought in new condition on e-bay for $15 - I have been feeding real heavy with a new copperbanded butterfly (which he is finally eating frozen mysis) and no algae blooms at all. I still do regular water changes. Water clear, but still see the snow at night. I think Randy Holmes Farley wrote an article in the past on one of the online mags wrt ozone. Some real good discussion at RC on how people are running it- most people don't run it at max levels. Joe from NY I think started it (our lighting speaker at the symposium) or had quite a few comments on it. many people thought their water less yellow, but I can't say mine was that bad before. Perhaps some bulbs make this part more apparent. FWIW Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Stearns January 31, 2005 Author Share January 31, 2005 Thanks Michael. I went and looked up Randy's article in 2002 on ORP, but want to find more info on O3 use by you folks who are using it. What are the maintenace problems- how do you know your unit is still working. I had thought to use if off cycle at nighht to help in fighting ich when it is in its free swimming mode, but also to get any water purification benefits. I too unles convinced otherwise would not use a orp meter- and this would all be a no brainer if I found a unit to play with for 15 bucks--- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelg January 31, 2005 Share January 31, 2005 Finding a unit for $15 was a big motivator for me to try it. It's pretty easy to tell if it is workiing- the air coming out smells. The instructions that came with my unit do not indicate any source of maintanance they need. Using ozone resistant tubing is recommended= other airline hose with harden up and break eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flowerseller February 1, 2005 Share February 1, 2005 You have probably smelled the smell that Michael is talking about when you first walk into a smokey bar or during a big electrical storm outside. I used ozone in the late 80s very early 90s and ran the output line into my tunze skimmer which at the time came with a port just for that purpose. On my ozone unit, I did have to wire brush the cylinder in which the ozone was generated on a regular (monthly) bases to remove a lite yellowish powdery material from the generation tube. In some over zealous buddies tanks I saw similar characteristics as lateral line disease when too much was generated over a long period. Most often apparent on Tangs and Angles. You didn't mention or I missed if you run the exit water over carbon as well. My tank was and still is grounded via a titanium coil chiller. Chip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelg February 1, 2005 Share February 1, 2005 Others have described the smell as that of a fresh xerox. Given how much people are worried about adverse effects from using too much, I run way on the low end as I don't have a direct monitor. FWIW, some of the new ones have a monitor/controller built into the unit. I do run it over carbon on the output of the skimmer, and make sure to change the carbon every 2 weeks (which is normal routine for me). Out of curiosity, any reason that you stopped running it? Or it just fell out of fashion..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flowerseller February 3, 2005 Share February 3, 2005 I used it for a year or two in the hopes of helping control (burn off) nusiance algae. To some degree it helped even though I was already using processed water. I felt that my overall tank health was not as robust as before my low dose usage/experimentation. Several months after stopping, I realized it was the correct path for me and my tank. I noticed growth and critters returned and mushroom division and star polyp growth became very apparent. Chip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelg February 3, 2005 Share February 3, 2005 Interesting. I will try that experiment for a couple of months and see how things look. My whole point in trying it was to see if there was a difference, and I've ran it long enough now to get a feel for what the tank is like with it running- and I think I finally have other things stabalized for a change= bulbs, calcium reactor, salt mix, livestock, etc... Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ireland February 3, 2005 Share February 3, 2005 I just ordered a Red Sea unit, should have it Monday. I'll post before and after pics of skimmer production, (if I can figure out how to post that is). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelg February 3, 2005 Share February 3, 2005 IMO what I would need to really show the difference in the skimmate is "smellovision". Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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