DIY (kind of) Ozone Generator

[Shallowwaters]

Are you running it at full blast or dialed down?
Any notable change in the appearance of your coral?

 

[Michael Mota]

My understanding is ozone should be run through carbon to help remove it before entering the tank? why would you build the reactor when you could have used it on the skimmer and helped to pull out most of that stuff?

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Ozone

I am running the ozonizer full blast, but with an ORP controller. ORP this morning continues to climb to 320 mV.

Due to the clearer water, there is more light penetrating it and reaching the corals. Corals are much brighter and vibrant.

Are you running it at full blast or dialed down?
Any notable change in the appearance of your coral?

 

[Michael Mota]

One thing is be careful, it is possible that your corals could get much more light too fast because of the clearer water and cause the algae within the coral to produce excessive oxygen which can cause some serious problems for the corals. I learned this first hand but of course you probably know this

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

The second chamber in the picture is filled with carbon.

I am using a reactor for a few reasons. First ozone can ruin your skimmer due to its caustic effects on plastics. Second, connecting it to a skimmer does not allow control of the air inout through the ozonizer and as such the air is always "ON". An air dryer is used for all air through the ozonizer and controlled via a pump. In this way both the air and the ozonizer is shut off after ORP reaches the set point on the controlller. The air dryer beads in the dryer get exhausted after continual use, so air always on would mean recharging the beads more often. Third, a pressurized reactor is more effective at injecting ozone into the water. Fourth, if my skimmer shuts off due to being filled with "gunk", I will not have ozone released into the air. A reactor is pressurized and sealed which makes it much less probable that ozone will escape into the air.

My understanding is ozone should be run through carbon to help remove it before entering the tank? why would you build the reactor when you could have used it on the skimmer and helped to pull out most of that stuff?

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

light

Yes, for this reason I decreased my photoperiod.

One thing is be careful, it is possible that your corals could get much more light too fast because of the clearer water and cause the algae within the coral to produce excessive oxygen which can cause some serious problems for the corals. I learned this first hand but of course you probably know this

 

[Michael Mota]

The second chamber in the picture is filled with carbon.

I am using a reactor for a few reasons. First ozone can ruin your skimmer due to its caustic effects on plastics. Second, connecting it to a skimmer does not allow control of the air inout through the ozonizer and as such the air is always "ON". An air dryer is used for all air through the ozonizer and controlled via a pump. In this way both the air and the ozonizer is shut off after ORP reaches the set point on the controlller. The air dryer beads in the dryer get exhausted after continual use, so air always on would mean recharging the beads more often. Third, a pressurized reactor is more effective at injecting ozone into the water. Fourth, if my skimmer shuts off due to being filled with "gunk", I will not have ozone released into the air. A reactor is pressurized and sealed which makes it much less probable that ozone will escape into the air.

Thanks for the input on this setup, now you have me rethinking the set up I was going to implement on my system.

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Setup

Your welcome...good luck on your set up.

Thanks for the input on this setup, now you have me rethinking the set up I was going to implement on my system.

 

[Michael Mota]

Your welcome...good luck on your set up.

Hey Chuck,
I was going to run ozone as most people do, through the skimmer but after thinking about this for some time with the info you supplied I have come to the conclusion that the set up you have is some what better and makes sense to me plus you seem to have better control. Again thanks for the info and I am still waiting for my ozonizer (sp) to come in the mail plus I still need to figure the system out and need an orp controller so it will be awhile before it is up and running but thank you again for the info and help even though you probably didn't realize you helped me, lol
Take care

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Ozone

Glad to be of assistance. You will absolutely see a difference in your water clarity using ozone

Hey Chuck,
I was going to run ozone as most people do, through the skimmer but after thinking about this for some time with the info you supplied I have come to the conclusion that the set up you have is some what better and makes sense to me plus you seem to have better control. Again thanks for the info and I am still waiting for my ozonizer (sp) to come in the mail plus I still need to figure the system out and need an orp controller so it will be awhile before it is up and running but thank you again for the info and help even though you probably didn't realize you helped me, lol
Take care

 

[shark bait100]

Chuch, how much of a decrease in the photo period did you do?

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Photoperiod

Since I have three sets of bulbs it is not straight forward. I have the following lights and photoperiods:

Set 1 250 W MH 12 noon to 12 midnight 2 pm to 10 pm
Set 2 250 W MH 1 pm to 11 pm 1 pm to 12 midnight
Set 3 400 W MH 2 pm to 10 pm 4 pm to 8 pm

They are configured over the tank like this:

1L 2L 3L 3R 2R 1R

L = Left side, R = Right side

Chuch, how much of a decrease in the photo period did you do?

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Ozone

After just a short period of running ozone, I have come to believe that it is the best and most cost-effective thing I have done for my tank. It has resulted in superb water clarity and most of the algae has vanished. For me, ozone provides better clarity than GAC and, since is automated via my controller, it is much easier. Plus, the ozone system is setup, the recurring cost is small compared to running carbon, Rowaphos, or other things to aid in removing organics or phosphates from the water. Ozone also lets me sit back and enjoy my tank much more than in the past when algae and yellowing water had to be addressed manually or was just annoying to look at. Water clarity plus less organics has made a huge difference in the colors of my corals. It has increased the time interval between front glass cleaning which allows me to spend time rearanging my tank, installing/moving corals, aquascaping, and other more enjoyable aspects of this hobby. The other benefit is that ozone kills pathogens in the water which is good for my fish and good for me!

I would love to post pictures but I have lost many acros in the last year to AEFWs and don't feel the tank is ready to share yet . But soon!

A question I have is in regards to ozone's efficacy at killing AFW larvae or small AFW. I heard somewhere that the AFW have a planktonic stage. If this is true, will the ozone kill flatworm plankton that passes through the reactor? If so, will the reactor also kill AFW in successive stages of early development?

Also, I found a good source for ozone generator air dryers. Marine Depot sells a 500 g Red Sea dryer that is around 15" tall and filled with color changing silica beads. These dryers are much bigger than the one I got from Enaly. Also, Enaly dryers have clear beads as opposed to the color changing ones which makes it difficult to tell when the beads need to be recharged.

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

ORP is now being maintained at 320 and over .

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Some Bad News and Advice

Things had been going well with the ozone until my acros began bleaching. At first I thought it was due to the clearer water allowing more light to reach the acros. But then after rasing my lights, further photoperiod reduction and totally eliminating my 400 W MH, I realized that the bleaching was due to other factors. I had an ORP calibration kit (quinhydrone mixed with pH4 and pH7 calibration fluid) and sucessfully calibrated the ORP probe on the Octopus 3000 but the directions did not say what the ORP should be for the two ORP calibration solutions. I did some searching on the web and found that these solutions should yield ORP readings of 86 and 263 mv for the pH7 and pH4 solutions respectively.

So I mixed up some of the two calibration solutions and took ORP readings. The pH7 solution yielded an ORP reading of 340 mv and the pH 4 solution yielded and ORP reading of 356 mv. Clearly, even after several cleanings and calibrations of the ORP probe, the probe is no longer functioning properly. So I don't really know what the ORP values were in my tank while running ozone.
The message is don't rely on ORP calibration as a means to determine that your probe is operating correctly, The standard values for the ORP calibrations mentioned above can be used to test or "check out" your probe if your decide to run ozone.

I have ordered a new probe, pH4 calibration powder, pH7 calibration powder and some quinhydrone and plan to still use ozone but not until my colonies recover from the bleaching.

 

[Aquaman_68]

Things had been going well with the ozone until my acros began bleaching. At first I thought it was due to the clearer water allowing more light to reach the acros. But then after rasing my lights, further photoperiod reduction and totally eliminating my 400 W MH, I realized that the bleaching was due to other factors. I had an ORP calibration kit (quinhydrone mixed with pH4 and pH7 calibration fluid) and sucessfully calibrated the ORP probe on the Octopus 3000 but the directions did not say what the ORP should be for the two ORP calibration solutions. I did some searching on the web and found that these solutions should yield ORP readings of 86 and 263 mv for the pH7 and pH4 solutions respectively.

So I mixed up some of the two calibration solutions and took ORP readings. The pH7 solution yielded an ORP reading of 340 mv and the pH 4 solution yielded and ORP reading of 356 mv. Clearly, even after several cleanings and calibrations of the ORP probe, the probe is no longer functioning properly. So I don't really know what the ORP values were in my tank while running ozone.
The message is don't rely on ORP calibration as a means to determine that your probe is operating correctly, The standard values for the ORP calibrations mentioned above can be used to test or "check out" your probe if your decide to run ozone.

I have ordered a new probe, pH4 calibration powder, pH7 calibration powder and some quinhydrone and plan to still use ozone but not until my colonies recover from the bleaching.

Told ya the probe was off. Even after a succesful calibration thru the controller it can be off. As I said ..... I usually use a specified orp liquid with a specified MV value. This has been very accurate for me as compared with my secondary orp meter!!! Doubles you got to have double gadgets to check & recheck!!!! This hobby is mad!!!

 

[ReeferMedic]

Doubles you got to have double gadgets to check & recheck!!!! This hobby is mad!!!

Dude, you have truly lost it!

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

More Confusion

Since I believe that my tank is nutrient deprived, I shut off the ozone generator, fed heavily, and turned off my skimmer for the last few days. I expected algae to start growing again, yellowing water and lower ORP. Instead, my ORP is up to 350! This is higher than when I was using the ozone! Also, algae is not returning, the substrate has no cyano on it and the water is still crystal clear.
What is going on?

 

[Aquaman_68]

Dude, you have truly lost it!

Long time ago...a long time ago!!!

Since I believe that my tank is nutrient deprived, I shut off the ozone generator, fed heavily, and turned off my skimmer for the last few days. I expected algae to start growing again, yellowing water and lower ORP. Instead, my ORP is up to 350! This is higher than when I was using the ozone! Also, algae is not returning, the substrate has no cyano on it and the water is still crystal clear.
What is going on?

Too much ozone will actually start to lower orp, Chuck. It's a fine line!!! Once you've over done it you need to take a break for a bit. Don't worry....The yellow water & the cyno will come back if you feed too much. Ozone is used primarily to break up stubborn organics too big for the skimmer to remove. They build up over time without ozone use. If you use ozone in small amounts, staggered over time, you will keep them in check.
HTH & hasn't confused you more.
B

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Too much ozone will actually start to lower orp

What's the evidence for that? How is it supposed to happen?

TIA