<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9243099#post9243099 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by army67romeo
hey what do the Ozone do ? i have never been told what is does
This came from an article from Otto Segura Ph.D. hope this helps a little
"Ozone is the most powerful oxidant readily available for water treatment. It is used by injecting it into the water. This is normally done in a chamber commonly known as an ozone reactor, but most commonly it is injected into a protein skimmer directly. Before the treated water is returned to the aquarium it must be passed through an ozone destruction device, such as a UV light of activated charcoal. The water treated has to have all ozone removed from it. This is very important in order to prevent burns in the gills of fishes, and delicate membranes of other organisms.
ozone for the treatment of aquarium water
is an overkill measure that destroys most
the eggs and larvae of the many organisms
that make up plankton. Most of these larvae
and eggs are from the very organisms that
we are trying to maintain
Ozone is a "non selective" oxidizer that can eliminate bacteria, viruses, iron, manganese, hydrogen sulfide, taste, and color. If someone is exposed to ozone it can cause burns to the skin and more dangerous burns in the lungs if it is aspirated. Ozone is at least a 50% stronger oxidizer than chlorine. The advantage of using ozone is when it is oxidized it reverts to oxygen. Ozone is very unstable, it will revert to oxygen within about an hour, even if there are no organics for it to oxidize.
As it can be seen by its description, the use of ozone for the treatment of aquarium water is an overkill measure that destroys most the eggs and larvae of the many organisms that make up plankton. Most of these larvae and eggs are from the very organisms that we are trying to maintain and most of the rest are organisms that serve as food for our organisms. Only a small portion of the organisms suspended in the water are undesirable in our system, this does not justify the use of ozone in our systems.
The ultraviolet sterilizer is another piece of equipment that is very efficient in the removal of bacteria, algae, fungi, and organic compounds. These compound can be part of an organism or dissolved directly into the water. This sterilizer uses ultraviolet radiation in the range of 254 nm. Ultraviolet radiation is able to break the molecular bonds of many biochemical compounds including DNA."