ozone wierdness

[vypr2002]

hey all.
I have been running ozone for a few months now and at first loved it. but I have been battling a funky black algae last few weeks. untill I noticed my carbon bag was empty!! it wasnt a black algae at all I believe the o3 broke down this particular brand of carbon. and in that I think whatever nutrients it took out got put right back in when it broke down.
this is my theory anyway. wondering if any of you smart types would know if o3 can break down carbon? I had no issues with brand A but when I switched to brand B things seemed to go downhill. needless to say I will go back to brand A

 

[bmwardo]

How long do you run carbon at a time?

 

[vypr2002]

24-7 I have to for the o3 skimmer output. it absorbs the excess

 

[murfman]

I have been runing O3 a little over a month now. use Kent carbon in a sock and have had no issues.

 

[herefishyfishy2]

I have been running ozone 24/7 now for a year using black diamond carbon with no issues. Your experience is odd indeed. I have never heard of it breaking down carbon into dust. What ORP are you running at?

If you can smell ozone with or without carbon then you either have a tubing leak or are using too much. Ozone has a "life" of ~ 3 seconds before it either binds to something organic and oxidizes it or becomes oxygen again by coming in contact with carbon. IMO running carbon while running ozone is a good idea, but not a must. Carbon doesn't absorb excess ozone, it causes it to associate back into oxygen and eliminates the ozone smell.

Unless you are using massive amounts of ozone there really is no way it can make it back into your display tank and damage livestock with as short of life as it has (just trying to dispell some myths while I'm at it) If you can smell it in your fish room....its a real good idea to find out why (usually a tubing leak) and deal with it as it can start to give you headaches and get worse from there with pets and plants. Ozone is very hard on plastics and thats usually the cause of the leak somehow.....somewhere.

After all that being said I am a huge fan of ozone and its reef tank benefits. Enjoy.