Ozone use

[badpacket]

FYI

FYI

Anthony, just thought I'd mention that according to Aquaticeco, the airstone you mention is online, located here:

http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/iid/9751/cid/2


Question/s for you.

Would you have a preference for these or Kordon?
And, aside from the $45-50 Luft pump, is there another pump model you can recommend which is actually quiet yet powerful enough for 1 or 2 airstone duty for either ozone or supplemental skimming duty?

Found this as well, seems a useful flow/pressure pump chart:
http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/listings.categories/ssid/311

 

[Anthony Calfo]

I love the Kordon brand... but have not had any success with their glass airstones to date when employed in protein skimmers. I do not believe they are made for the purpose.

 

[Luis A M]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6284837#post6284837 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Luis A M
How do they work?Where the injected air goes?
I was thinking to place the return pump in a bucket/compartment fed in excess with ozonized water...

My question was bumped but I imagine injected air must leave the reactor thru some special valve that somehow stops water escaping or mini bubbles are mixed in the water return flow tp the tanks,as in some kitchen faucets.
In either case,I guess a powerful air pump is needed to counteract the pressure of the return water pump.
Therefore my shopping list if I want to replace my in-line UV with an in-line ozonizer keeps growing

Powerful air pump
Ozone -proof air-line
Air drier
Ozonizer
ORP controller
Probe (sold separately)
Ozone reactor
Carbon reactor for treated water
Carbon contactor for escaped air
Special fine ozone-proof air stone

:mixed:

 

[CastleRock]

Where is the best place to put the controller ORP probe?
in tank? in the overflow? or the other end of sump from the skimmer after injection? or in the return area of the sump before the skimmer and isolated from the injection area?

I have read through this thread and did not see anything on this
Thanks

 

[Anthony Calfo]

You will notice that you (may) get slightly different ORP readings from different places in the tank.

FWIW... I like to place my ORP probe (if using only one) in a dark plac out of the way near the surface of the display.

I figure an ORP reading closer to the animals (vis a vis display versus sump probe placement) is more useful than a skewed (high) reading in the sump, high aeration/flow area, etc.

 

[RobReefer]

Luis, I had the same question, (which no one answered). So I called coralife about their reactor. The Tech I talked to said that the reactor is not supoosed to seperate the o3 and water. Both are supposed to go through the carbon filter, and then back down to the sump.

 

[Luis A M]

Right,it is not clear how this reactor works or where the air/ozone goes.May be Anthony can clarify
Could you describe how your reactor is built?Where water inlet/outlet are placed?.Is the air outlet a simple hole or a valve?
Thing is that in multi-tank systems,I need 100% of the returned water be treated.But if tis reactor is hooked in-line,it has to work under the pressure of the return pump.
Thanks

 

[jkapit]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6304593#post6304593 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RobReefer
Ok well I finally got everything up and running. I don't have the ozone pumping because I'm still waiting for my probe to adjust. I did a test run on the setup and found a problem. The water and O3 do not separate in the reactor. The only thing that comes out of the air outlet is water and a little air. Both the O3 and water move through the same tube into the Carbon filter, and bubbles and all back into the tank. I was wondering if this was ok, because it is passing through an almost filled canister of carbon. or if I did something wrong. I made a drawing of how it is setup. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

I just bought the coralife reactor as well and I think you may have your water flow in the diagram incorrect. After reading the horrible directions I think the water goes in the inlet closer to the side so the water travels down the reactor while the ozone bubbles up the reactor so it mixes well. Then the water goes through the dispersion plate and exits through the center tube.

Let me know if you think I have it wrong.

 

[RobReefer]

I definatly agree. The directions that came with the unit were very bad to say the least. I do belive that I did infact hook it up right. I explained to the tech exactly what I did and what was happening. He said "that was the way it is supposed to work." I have it up and running right now, and every thing is great so......... It is possible I guess that the tech was wrong though..... The way your describing makes sence to. You should call Coralife and see what they say. Please let me know if I am wrong.

 

[RobReefer]

Well Luis, I'm not sure if you have ever seen a phosban reactor, but it is the exact same thing. The inlet tube is in the middle and runs down all the way to the bottom. From there the water flows up through the reactor media towards the top. At the bootom of the reactor is an airstone that the o3 bubbles up through. Then at the very top offset to one side is the outlet. There are 2 airline tube connections on the top of the unit. One that goes down to the airstone, and one for exhaust. The exhaust is what i am having the problem with.


I wonder why the spell check button isn't at the bottom any more?

 

[Luis A M]

Rob I get the idea,I used to have a Lifegard carbon filter.I agree with jkapit in that the air flow must be counter current to maximixe the contact time.
My question/doubt/problem (that nobody here adressed ) is that if this thing is placed after the return pump,water will overflow thru the exaust.
And if the air outlet is closed,air will exit mixed with water,up to the delivery valves.
Please do us a favour,run it and tell us what happens

 

[RobReefer]

Luis, I have been running it. It is on the return side of my sump. But I have the water getting refiltered in my fuge. Your doubt/problem you are thinking of is true o3 and water both get expelled back into water. According to the tech guy at coralife, it is ok because it is going through an almost filled phosban reactor filled with carbon. He said thats how he had it set up on his tank. If thats right or not im not sure. But I can tell you that coralife said it was ok. And i have had no problems. (Not yet at least.) The tech that one of the air inlets on the device should be plugged with the needle valve they give you. He said the valve is only used on certain applications. I dont exactly remember what they were unfortunatly but it did not apply to my situation.

 

[Luis A M]

Thanks.The air valve is probably used to purge air when first setting.
I think this device should be transparent,otherwise thereÃ"šÃ‚´s no way to know how much air is being injected.You using a strong air pump?

 

[jkapit]

Luis,

I set mine up yesterday the same way Robreefer did with the water traveling down the middle tube and ozone and water travelling out the top with the bleeder vavle totally closed. Then I run it through a phosban reactor with carbon.

But with regard to the bleeder valve, according to the directions, you can control the amount of ozone that stays in the top of the reactor by keeping the valve slightly opened. I think if you want to run the reacter in this mode where air is escaping out the bleeder valve and only water leaves the water return then you have to plumb the unit in reverse, that way the water comes in from the top of the unit and is pushed down then up through the middle tube and the ozone rises and escapes out the bleeder valve(Similar to the way skimmers separate water from the bubbles. That is, drawing water from the very bottom of the skimmer and letting the bubbles rise). I think this mode of operation is what is poorly described in the directions as "Method 1".

But since I twisted my bleeder valve too hard it broke right off I just set it up up to expel the water and ozone out together. Also, I guess if you ran it this way you would need a carbon filter on the bleader valve as well which is just one more complication and a run to Home Depot.

 

[RobReefer]

Sorry to hear about the bleeder Jk. I tried using the reactor with the water flownig downward, and it did seem to realy work right. In this case the o3 gets pushed right into the escape tube for the water. It also seemed that the water was not mixing well at all. I changed it back to the origional way. I think that the water mixes better because of the media inside. Jk, if you use the other method and get it to work better than this way, please let me know. Luis you can see through the unit. Its a clear red.

 

[Luis A M]

Thanks foklks,I see it better now
If water is entered thru the bottom reaching tube,it will leave thru the top pushing all the air in the return line.This is almost the same as injecting the air via a "T" connection,not much of a reactor.
But if water enters at the top and leaves at the bottom,air will react against the water flow and ends collecting at the top of the reactor,where it keeps delivering O3 to the water.The size of this air chamber could be regulated to some extent by fiddling with the needle valve.And the air pump must match the water pressure of the system.

 

[RobReefer]

Yes Luis. I'm glad I have been of some service to you. You are correct, it is not much of a reactor. Your almost better off getting a phosban reactor and an airstone. It is the exact same thing. If you hold them up side by side they look identical. Hopefelly Jk gets his reactor running the the oppsoite I have it. I would like to see if he can get it to work.

 

[jkapit]

After running the ozone reactor for a day the way I had it set up I am actually going back to my original plan on using my skimmer as the reactor.

Even though I was running the ozone/water output through carbon I began to smell ozone in the room. Plus there are some other configuration issues in my sump that made taking up room for the two reactors less than ideal.


I originally set up my ETSS 800 skimmer with ozone, but also smelled ozone in the room so I ordered the coralife reactor. Now that I am focusing on using the ETSS I've done some more work to reduce/eliminate the ozone smell.

The first mod to the skimmer was to replace one of the air injector elbows with a speed-fit fitting for 1/4" tube. I connect the ozone generator with no air pump to the speed-fit fitting and am let the skimmer draw the ozone in from the ozonizer in one of the downdraft towers. Thus, eliminating the need to use the air pump.

I built a new carbon air filter out of 3" PCV which attaches to my waste container. The one that came with the unit only had an inch of carbon on the top of the container and I though maybe it was not catching all the ozone. So the one I made forces the air output of the skimmer to go through a 6" tall tube of carbon which has seemed to help.

To insure I have no residual ozone returning to the tank I actually have 3 1-liter filter cartridges from Lifereef that I have filled with carbon. I am using a Quite One 900GPH pump to process the water at the far side of the pump so virtually all the water that the ETSS is expelling will get treated with a trip through the carbon.

I tried to make a large cannister filter on the outlet of the skimmer, but it created way too much back-pressure and the skimmer was leaking water out the air injectors. Not a pretty event!

The last mod I plan to make for this setup is to cover the small section in my sump where the water exits the skimmer. ETSS skimmers produce some micro bubbles and they rise to the surface in the area so I am going to make a cover and put a vent on it with carbon just to make sure the microbubbles are not expelling ozone into the air.

So basically, since I am pushing 900 gph through the skimmer which creates a thick white foam I figure I am getting much more out of the ozone than the smaller reactor which is processing 100GPH.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

 

[RobReefer]

Man Jk, I think I might try to use my old seaclone too. Im not sure that the reactor is doing much of anything. The Orp is around 250 and not going any higher. I dont think the reactor is much of a reactor. I will also keep you all posted as I mess around.

 

[rickburdeniuk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6185256#post6185256 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by johnnstacy
As an update, I have ordered this Ozotech DG Air Dryer. I also ordered the calcium chloride media that goes in it directly from Ozotech for $2.60 lb. I will post the results of this cost effective air dryer once I receive and use it.

How did the air Dryer work out?