The chance of overdosing ozone

[KilianSP]

I didn't know this, uvc kills ozone.

Read it here in the forum and on some other sites, but don't ask me how exactly this works.

 

[Dan_P]

I have to put alot carbon in for water clarity. I think the carbon is absorbing much of the trace elements. When i put carbon in, the next day i see the caulerpas starting to get pale, next day it starts to die of. Other macros start to Page at the second day, and third day no grow, and then slowly start to die off.
If i remove the carbon, redest iron, iodine and trace elements, the die off stops and they start to heal and grow again after a few days.

Activated Carbon may work on corals only tanks, because the need less nutritions. I have macroalgae only and my po4 need to be redosed twice a day back to 0,05mg and it is a predatory fish tank. So macros consume alot of Nutritions. So if the trace elements drop, so do the macros. Missing iron is always leading to macros getting pale.

That are my thoughts.
Didn't had a Problem like this with carbon in my fresh and brackish Systems.

Your problem with GAC seems unusual, especially how quickly the macro algae fade in the presence of fresh GAC. I use 1 L of GAC for a 100 gallon/380 L system (6 Green Chromis, lots of Xenia, and 15 large Mexican turbo snails) and and never saw Ulva respond like your Caulerpa when fresh GAC was added.

I dose ChaetoGro otherwise the Ulva stops growing and feels like it is wilted. I attributed the need for dosing trace elements to growing 3-5 L of Ulva not to the presence of GAC. I have read that GAC can effect trace element levels, but how much I don’t know.

 

[Paul B]

What is woth the PVC Tank connections? There are Rubber seals

Rubber will turn to snot in the presence of Ozone. PVC, nylon and acrylic are fine. You need to use silicone or PVC hose for the Ozone/air

 

[KilianSP]

I use 2-3l GAC if i use it. I got a bamboo shark, moray, pufferfish and 7 colombian sharks, maybe thats to much for the GAC and it is used up in a few days.
I tried it often enough and it is always the same with the caulerpas. Since i am proud of my macro algaes, of course i want to keep them alive and happy, so ozone is very interesting alternative for me.

I dose po4, iron, iodine and trace elements daily with dosing Pumps. And keep my levels in a good saturated level

 

[Devaji]

SO how did your Ozone adventure go? worth it? any tips and tricks?

 

[KilianSP]

SO how did your Ozone adventure go? worth it? any tips and tricks?

Totally worth it.
Water is very clear, that you can reduce the light intensity to achieve the same PAR, which Safes energy.
Running it without ORP.
I dose so much that i can barely smell it and than go lower than that and let it run for 24/7.
The algaes in the sump couldn't care less and the big UVC in the return line gets the ozone out of the water.

 

[Devaji]

Totally worth it.
Water is very clear, that you can reduce the light intensity to achieve the same PAR, which Safes energy.
Running it without ORP.
I dose so much that i can barely smell it and than go lower than that and let it run for 24/7.
The algaes in the sump couldn't care less and the big UVC in the return line gets the ozone out of the water.

thanks for the update!

 

[jduong916]

Totally worth it.
Water is very clear, that you can reduce the light intensity to achieve the same PAR, which Safes energy.
Running it without ORP.
I dose so much that i can barely smell it and than go lower than that and let it run for 24/7.
The algaes in the sump couldn't care less and the big UVC in the return line gets the ozone out of the water.

What ozonator are you using and at what setting (dose amount)? Do you run it 24/7 everyday? I really dont want to use a controller either

 

[gbroadbridge]

What ozonator are you using and at what setting (dose amount)? Do you run it 24/7 everyday? I really dont want to use a controller either

Folks used to run ozone like that without a controller just using your nose.
If you can smell it, it's too much

I used to do that in the 1980's in a 75gal tropical freshwater tank in a small apartment.

Given what I know now, I wouldn't do it.
My current ozone generator is controlled using a ORP probe, and even so, I only run it overnight.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I am thinking about getting a ozone generator to get the yellow out of my water. Activated carbon won't do the job long term and my macro algae don't like the carbon.

As i read the rule, 10mg per 100l, 10mg 25gal, and i am running a 330gal System, i would need 130mg.
But here is the problem, i got the deltec 3000i skimmer, which can handle ozone, but only 50mg/h Max. As writen in the manual.

So i am going to get a 50mg.
Since i planned to not run an orp sensor, because electronics can fail, what whould happen if the generator gets a fail and is dosing 50mg/h over maybe 8h (want to let it run only 8h a day with a clock) are all my fish then instant death? Or is 50mg at 330gal not enough to get the redox higher than 350mV in this time?
I want to run it at 50% so 25mg, the 50mg is as an example for a fail in the generator.

In short: will 25mg/h in 330gal System for 8h on be dangerous for my fish?
I am going to adjust the generator with the smell test before of course.

The problem is: ozone dosing is a sliding scale. With lots of organics in the water, there is lots for the ozone to work on, so no free ozone-oxidants remain. As time goes on, as the organics get burned off, less ozone is needed. If you keep at the same dose, you can end up with excess ozone oxidants in the water that can harm the primary inhabitants.

Coming into the more humid summer season, be sure to use a desiccant on the feed air, that reduces the nitric acid formation.

You can test for ozone oxidants with a simple DPD chlorine test - any pink color means oxidants are present. These can be neutralized with sodium thiosulfate.

Jay

 

[KilianSP]

What ozonator are you using and at what setting (dose amount)? Do you run it 24/7 everyday? I really dont want to use a controller either

I use the aqualight 100mg ozone generator. I Set it up till the air which is coming out of the skimmer doesn't stink like fish poop, more like neutral. And i hocked it on a timer, which turns it on every hour for 15 minutes, but this is going 24/7 , so 15 minutes on, 45 minutes of, 15 min. On and so on.
It works out for me. It doesn't clear the water instantly, but doing it so it clears up ober a few days and then stays clear. The big UVC in the return line should get rid of the maybe remaining ozone.