Ozone use

[Bert Shaft]

Dear Anthony,

I would like to make an ozone reactor for my tank, if poss could you please let me know what goes inside one, also should i think about putting a small powerhead on it to recirculate or just to feed it.

All the best

Paul

[ayrton]

Originally posted by Anthony Calfo
Its really a matter of height and contact time... no info here on your skimmer specs, but I suspect it will likely do the job easily. Your RedOx with reflect it or not.

Hi Anthony,
do you think Red Sea Berlin Turbo skimmer is enough as ozone reactor for my 540 gallons tank. I'm going to buy an old cheap one!
Its specs are:

The unique skimmer with a triple air pass and patented air return "skirt.". The Berlin Turbo greatly increases contact time by allowing for the introduction of significantly more air bubbles (volume of contact). Combined with the triple pass of the Berlin this combination makes for unbeatable results. The combined effect of the triple pass with Turbo drive increase the protein extraction capabilities significantly.Tangential water inlet. Venturi air injector. Full size air carbon filter. Unique compact design. More effective than skimmers twice the size. Removes levels of proteins other skimmers can`t. Optional internal or external mounting. Easy cleaning. Safe ozone use. The Berlin Turbo utilizes a new 12 blade TurboJet Impleller that actually creates a significant positive pressure enabling the skimmer to operate the triple pass and do it without an additional pump.
23" tall. up to 250 gal.

What do you say about it?

Lorenzo

[Anthony Calfo]

heehee... yes, it may work better as an ozone reacter than a skimmer alone And I do not believe the plastic is ozone stable...so it will become brittle over time, if so.

[sfsuphysics]

Originally posted by Anthony Calfo

DIY plans for air dryers can be had. The device is staggeringly simple though... a tube full of dessicant (various chemicals can be used safely).

Can you save up all the little packets from aspirin and other such pills??

[hex1]

yes you can, you will have to open them and dry the beads in a oven,
but thats a lot of work and the ones in the packet dont contain a indicator dye to tell you when its time to dry them. you can get a pound of indicator dessicant for $13 or so from aquatic eco. not worth the hassle to save the packets, imho

[djian]

Anthony, In your opinion, would you go with a UV sterilizer or Ozone?

[Anthony Calfo]

ozone for most folks (home and public aquaria).... UV only for bare-bottomed commercial installations (its the only place they can be of any good use/value IMO due to their limitations of efficacy based on strict installation and water pre-treatment requirements which I have outlined in detailin this forum/the archives if anyone cares to delve further)

[Puffer Queen]

After many years of using both UV & ozone, I prefer ozone.

If you are using ozone in a tank/pond with a pond liner, make sure you are diligent about changing carbon as the ozone will eventually destroy the liner.

FWIW,
Kelly

[djian]

Does anyone have any pics of how the carbon is placed? I can see it in my head, but I want to be sure what I'm seeing is accurate.

Ian

[golfish]

Originally posted by djian
Does anyone have any pics of how the carbon is placed? I can see it in my head, but I want to be sure what I'm seeing is accurate.

Ian

I'd like to see a few ideas on this as well. I run a recirc skimmer and have the water return back to the sump using 1" PVC. I'm not sure how to set this up? I'm using an old Phosban reactor for carbo right now.

[Old Yeller Tang]

Have you looked into this one? Really cheap and saves the trouble of making one.

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewIt...roduct=ES00796

[Puffer Queen]

As far as the placement of carbon - start at the beginning of this thread & reread Anthony's posts on carbon.

I found them helpful.

Kelly

[Anthony Calfo]

heya, folks... sorry for the brief (2 post insertion) awkward shuffle of this thread page but I just saw a thread from Bert Shaft (11/02/2005 03:37 PM entry) about making an ozone reacter and thought it best to merge it with this sticky for better archiving and visibility/help to more folks.

As for making a reacter... the term is loose. About as loose as "calcium reacter" or "phyto reacter".

Loose in the sense that they are merely plastic chambers. Capped tubes. Really not much more than that.

If you want to get fancy here, you can buy schedule 80 PVC pipe instead of regular schedule 40. Either will work fine. An ozone reacter really, literally can be as simple as a tube that we just aerate (glass airstone to withstand the ozone... Korndon makes them... Aquatic Ecosystems makes them too... many other companies. These are the "reusable" airstones marketed).

So... after capping say a 4" pipe that is roughly 24" tall... the top is plumbed or simply tapped (drilled) with some sort of air vent which you place a sack of carbon (nylon sock or the like) to filter any residual ozone from air... and you plumb the body of the tube with a smaller effluent water tube... over which you tie a nylon sock of carbon again (much like we do on overflow drains, skimmers, etc) to obviously catch any effluent ozone from out going water.

You can perhaps see now why old skimmers are set up nicely to serve as ozone "reacters".

And that is a simple device.

Now some folks like to add bio-balls or design modifications to increase the contact time between air and water... or pressurize the unit - these changes are intended to improve the efficacy of ozone (increasing kill time for ozone, increasing oxygen saturation of the water, contact time overall). They are nice features... and you see this in most commercial units.

But ozone is so very effective, that even a DIY unit will make a significant impact on water quality.

[golfish]

Roland,
I bet I could connect the output of that reactor to the input of my old phosban reactor that I use for carbon..

[Old Yeller Tang]

Originally posted by golfish
Roland,
I bet I could connect the output of that reactor to the input of my old phosban reactor that I use for carbon..

[golfish]

Roland,
You buy one first then I can see how its works, then I'll make my own. I need pictures or something I can see to make heads or tails of it.

[Leishman]

I need a larger air dryer. Who knows where to get one?

I'm running 500g and 250g air dryers in line and I'm still having to recharge the media every 4-5 days. I saw on Joe's (JB NY) site he has a 1200g chamber he got from Champion but Champion don't carry that one any more. I also found that TAAM (RIO) make an 1800g unit, but can't find a place to buy one.

Anyone have an idea where to get the 1200g or 1800g unit?

Thx

Rik

[Anthony Calfo]

Aquatic Ecosystems (TX)... fab catalog... not the cheapest, but perhaps the biggest inventory of aquaculture supplies in the US

[Leishman]

Their dryers are small also. Thanks for the link, but still looking.

[Anthony Calfo]

do call them, my friend... they have a huge inventory that is not all listed online (such as their proprietary sintered glass airstones [fine-pore] that are incredibelfor skimmers - reusable).

They are aquaculture suppliers for some very big fisheries. I would be very suprised if they only have hobby/small installation solutions here.

But if you call and its still so, then do look at contacting Ozotech directly. I have seen their commercial models in action. Some very old ones too. Quite good quality.

[Old Yeller Tang]

Originally posted by golfish
Roland,
You buy one first then I can see how its works, then I'll make my own. I need pictures or something I can see to make heads or tails of it.

Mark,

I was going to order today but MD told me my ER skimmer is ozone safe, so I won't be needed one now.

Roland

[jbphoenix]

Originally posted by Leishman
I need a larger air dryer. Who knows where to get one?

I'm running 500g and 250g air dryers in line and I'm still having to recharge the media every 4-5 days. I saw on Joe's (JB NY) site he has a 1200g chamber he got from Champion but Champion don't carry that one any more. I also found that TAAM (RIO) make an 1800g unit, but can't find a place to buy one.

Anyone have an idea where to get the 1200g or 1800g unit?

Thx

Rik

Rik,
I run the same setup (250g and 500g) in series and I have to recharge mine around every 2 - 3 weeks, and could probably go longer if I wanted.

I did run an piece of airline tubing from the first unit in the series to a place outside of the tank stand so I would not be drawing in so much humid air from an open sump. Every 4 - 5 days seems quite often to have to recharge the beads.

I know I live in Phoenix where the outside humidity hovers at less than 15% most of the time, but the humidity in my house (not in the stand under the tank) runs around 30 - 35% or so.

Just my $.02 worth

-Jerry

[Anthony Calfo]

electronic, self-recharging dryers are the way to go Well worth the investment. Your time saved is worth more than the few hundreds of dollars. Especially on a reef system as large as yours with the price tag it carries

[Old Yeller Tang]

Btw, what does ozone smell like? I was told like lightning but what does lightning smell like!

[wld1783]

Old Yeller Tang

Be careful. I had a leak in my MR6 skimmer due to ozone. After a year the rubber seal degraded. If it has rubber it will be affected by ozone. I also have a CS12-3 and keep ozone away from it. The uniseals on the pumps may not be ozone safe.

Ozone is great I still use it in MyReef skimmer but now its sealed with Plumbers Goop. PITA to clean now but no worries.

Bill