Ozone Reactor Questions

tigé21v

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First off, I'm not sure if I picked the right forum for this or not. Could've posted this here, in the DIY, or the Equipment forum. If this would be better answered in another forum, Mods please move.


I’m sure this has all been covered over the years. I’ve tried looking both on this site and other places across the net, but haven’t really had much luck. If someone could either point me in the right direction, or answer my questions, I would appreciate it. (I've read RHF's articles on the subject. Thanks, Randy!!) Also, any info I'm about to spit out on the subject is only from what I've been able to find on the 'net. I have no clue how true or accurate any of it is, and I have no firsthand experience.

I’m thinking of adding ozone to my system, and I'm planning on modifying a reactor I currently have. I'm hoping to do it in a way that allows me to get the most benefit from the least amount of ozone. There seems to be primarily two different styles, a counter-current setup where the water is fed from the top and ozone is pumped through an airstone at the bottom of the unit, and either exiting the top or bottom of the reactor. Or a pressurized design where both the ozone and water are fed through the top and allowed to trickle down over media, exiting at the bottom.
The one thing it seems all reactors have in common, is that they are all configured as a single-pass setup. Ozone has one shot at water contact, and that's it. Which got me to thinking- why hasn't anyone designed a reactor which recirculates? I know the half life of ozone is relatively short. Probably less than 15 minutes in our environment. So why not give the water more exposure by recirculating it a couple of times? If, in fact, more exposure of the water would allow for more interaction with the ozone, the amount of ozone leaving the reactor and entering the water column , or escaping the reactor into the surrounding air, would be reduced. Minimizing one of the major drawbacks of running ozone.

From what information I've been able to find, it doesn't take much flow through the reactor (somewhere around 25% gph of the tank's TWV) to see results. Seems like it would be even less if the ozone inside the reactor could indeed have more contact time via multiple water passes.

Also, just how much benefit does one gain from putting the reactor under pressure? From what I understand, the pressure forces the ozone into the water. If in fact, one wants total absorption of the ozone into the water, wouldn't a Speece Cone be the way to go? Or would it require too high of a water flow? Or would there not be enough contact time before the saturated water had to pass through the GAC?
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tigé21v

tigé21v

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Hopefully, knock out the dinos (ostreopsis ovata) once and for all . Any other benefits would be icing on the cake.:cool:
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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Hopefully, knock out the dinos (ostreopsis ovata) once and for all . Any other benefits would be icing on the cake.:cool:

I'd actually be surprised if ozone eliminated dinos, even if you managed to sterilize the water in the reactor. (which is not often attained in aquaria),
 
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tigé21v

tigé21v

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I'd actually be surprised if ozone eliminated dinos, even if you managed to sterilize the water in the reactor. (which is not often attained in aquaria),
You're probably right. But I figure if in fact there is a chance it may help, it would be beneficial to try to utilize the reactor to its fullest potential . The thought behind it being , if I can knock them back to a manageable level, the micro fauna will be able to mop up the rest.
I figure the better the reactor, the better chance I have of accomplishing it.
 
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