pros and cons of ozone?

[abraham]

Hey there,
I've been frantically searching this sight and others for a good way to get rid of a dinoflagellate problem I'm having. The only thing that I've read that has worked everytime someone has mentioned it is ozone. Everything else seems to be a mixed bag of results. I'm tired of messin' with this stuff! I'm tempted to get a onzonizer, but when I went to order one, the dealer told me that it'd kill off my bacteria bed too. I obviously don't want to do that! Anyone got some wisdom for me?

Abraham

 

[DT's_Reef]

Do you use reverse osmosis water for your tank? If you use tap, the algae issue could be caused by silicates.

Also, if your tank is new, they seem to go through a brown stage where everything gets a bit brown, including the glass or acrylic.

I use ozone on my 90g SPS tank and really like having it. Although I would recommend using it with an ORP controller, injecting it into your skimmer, and running your skimmer effluent over carbon.

The above safety precautions aren't entirely necessary, but if you do without them, you really need to know what you're doing as it's easy to dose too much ozone.

I don't run my skimmer effluent over carbon and all my SPS and fish are happy. However, I do use an ORP controller and keep it set at about 340 mv, so my system only occasionally doses ozone.

I think it may help your brown algae issue, but one thing it will certainly do is keep your water completely clear.

It will not kill off the bacterial in your system and compromise the denitrification process.

 

[abraham]

DT,
Thanks for your responce. your "story" is exactly the kind of thing I keep hearing from people that run ozone. The horror stories seem to come from people who don't use it. Honestly though, I've been around since the 80's and I remember the ozone craze and all the issues it created, so I was skeptical. Thanks again. BTW, do you have clams in your reef?

Abraham

 

[DT's_Reef]

Yes, I do have clams (a large ultra maxima, and a nice crocea).

Although not essential to use, I think ozone is an extremely useful water quality management tool to have around. It's not atypical for SPS keepers to have it on hand, or use it daily, to help guard against Rapid Tissues Necrosis.