Ozone making skimmer stuff smell different?

[DrDNA]

Hi all!
I have a question for those of you who run ozone. I just got mine hooked up over last weekend and I have noticed that the skimmate (?) smells quite a bit different than it used to. Now it smells more like old socks
Anyone else ever notice this? Or did someone drop a pair of old socks in my tank (I don't have kids, so doubtful)???

 

[MrMikeB]

I do not run ozone myself, but have ran other products that use ozone. Ozone itself has a bleach smell in the first place when let into the air. I would imagine that the ozone in the water when exposed to the air you breathe would also produce some sort of new smell.

On a side note, why did you choose to go with ozone? Do you have an ORP meter? - curious to see what the change is when you hooked it up.

 

[BONDQ]

Old socks smell doesn't sound right.

Ozone has a distinct sweet smell that is rather pleasant.

Your skimmate production should be clearer and you should have markedly less production. This is because the ozone is killing some of the bacteria and breaking it down. I would think that your skimmate should actually smell better, if that's possible.

 

[GSMguy]

ozone smells like dentist office

 

[funman1]

Ozone actually smells like a copy machine after coping like 50 pages.

A copy machine cranks out ozone. and so does the "Ionic brezze"
I have no idea how it's changing the skimate smell though.

 

[DrDNA]

Hi all,

Sorry for not replying sooner, been swamped this week.

MrMikeB-
I had never used ozone before but decided to give it a shot due to a lot of evidence about "clearer water". I run it through a Lifereef skimmer and use the Red Sea ozonizer. I also do monitor my ORP level but don't use an ORP controller since I have heard that the ORP probes aren't very reliable. My ORP was running about 350-400 before I hooked it up. I did get an ORP spike of around 550 (yikes!) but it dropped pretty fast when I put some food in the tank and turned the ozonizer way down.
It definitely made the water clearer and the skimmer is pulling out less gunk and the anemones (RBTA, condy), clams (gigas), and corals (hammer, elegance) seem to be happier.

good luck,
Jeff

 

[MrMikeB]

Wow, 550 - almost too clean, eh? I have been contemplating the ozone piece, but have not made the jump because of reading the responses of water being too sterile and actually bad for most corals. Just like everything else, I imagine its all about moderation.

 

[DrDNA]

yeah, 550 was a little too high for my comfort, and that was with the ozonizer set at 50%! I was shooting for whatever cleaned up the water and made the livestock look happy, which seems to be in the 375-450 range. I wouldn't manage a tank based on ORP alone though, I think it can be misleading. IMHO, pH is a much more informative indicator of water quality. I agree very much that you don't want to remove all the nutrients from your system, especially if you are doing mainly LPS and anemones and gigas clams. Most of these species come from backreef areas that can be turbid and, well, less than sterile!
I have the smaller red sea unit on a 300gal tank and have it set around 10-20%. so far so good though. I would definitely use one again.

 

[mburnickas]

I run my O3 in my tank about 380. I also run ozone in my home and if you smell it , you are running to much.