Thoughts on Ozone and UV?
- Thread starter ppht
- Start date
The two do rather different things in reef aquaria.
Ozone is primarily useful to keep the water from being yellowed by organic compounds. Most other advantages attributed to ozone are probably not real as most reefers use it. Ozone will not sterilize the water they way hobbyists usually use it. I use ozone.
I do not generally recommend a UV unless you have fish that are unusually prone to disease (like seahorses). It does not normally do much to remove organics from the water. I do not use UV.
These articles have more:
Ozone and the Reef Aquarium, Part 1: Chemistry and Biochemistry
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-03/rhf/index.php
Ozone and the Reef Aquarium, Part 2: Equipment and Safety
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-04/rhf/index.php
Ozone and the Reef Aquarium, Part 3: Changes in a Reef Aquarium upon Initiating Ozone
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-05/rhf/index.php
Ozone is primarily useful to keep the water from being yellowed by organic compounds. Most other advantages attributed to ozone are probably not real as most reefers use it. Ozone will not sterilize the water they way hobbyists usually use it. I use ozone.
I do not generally recommend a UV unless you have fish that are unusually prone to disease (like seahorses). It does not normally do much to remove organics from the water. I do not use UV.
These articles have more:
Ozone and the Reef Aquarium, Part 1: Chemistry and Biochemistry
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-03/rhf/index.php
Ozone and the Reef Aquarium, Part 2: Equipment and Safety
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-04/rhf/index.php
Ozone and the Reef Aquarium, Part 3: Changes in a Reef Aquarium upon Initiating Ozone
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-05/rhf/index.php
ppht
Premium Member
Snarky's
I actually have Ozone and ran it for along time. I see small clarity difference and I was thinking of UV. But then after alot of reading many of the nicest tanks people arent even using it or they did and no longer do. After that I was curious with a pole to see if more people picked that they run neither... I am actually going to stop running ozone and forgetting about getting UV. Which the results from this board and another are leading me too....
Actually as I look at the results Ozone is a big winner so far with neither...
Other than clarity I would like to hear what people feel they are getting out of running ozone? I have read randy's papers but would like to hear what people are thinking....
I actually have Ozone and ran it for along time. I see small clarity difference and I was thinking of UV. But then after alot of reading many of the nicest tanks people arent even using it or they did and no longer do. After that I was curious with a pole to see if more people picked that they run neither... I am actually going to stop running ozone and forgetting about getting UV. Which the results from this board and another are leading me too....
Actually as I look at the results Ozone is a big winner so far with neither...
Other than clarity I would like to hear what people feel they are getting out of running ozone? I have read randy's papers but would like to hear what people are thinking....
Snarkys
.Registered Member
for what its worth, I had ozone running on my skimmer but i could never get the amount right and the high levels of ozone shut down foam production so i took it off . Personally, If i were to use it again i would only do it in a reactor. Too many people treat ozone like a plug and play item on their skimmer when in fact it's a bit more complicated than that. My understanding is if used in the right amounts (.01 and 0.03 mg o3/L of of flow through a protein skimmer ) The ozone will change the electrostatic charge of some of the particles which will cause them to clump together and make it easier for for the skimmer to remove them. If you use too much ozone it will change the charge of all the particles and they will repel each other and make it harder for the skimmer to remove them . High levels of ozone inside the skimmer will also break apart the carbon bonds of the long-chain polar molecules attached to the air bubbles and cause them to prematurely burst and further reduce foam production. If you do use it in your skimmer, base the amount of ozone dosed off the flow through your skimmer not the ORP of of the water outside the skimmer (in the tank)
far as UV goes, i]d skip it unless you are convinced it will solve some particular issue you might have and if you do use it i would personally go big and use a high quality one like emperor aquatics.
far as UV goes, i]d skip it unless you are convinced it will solve some particular issue you might have and if you do use it i would personally go big and use a high quality one like emperor aquatics.
Snarkys
.Registered Member
FWIW, I have two 4 foot x 6 foot 6 inch tall frag tanks that was having cyano problems in plague proportions. I tried everything under the sun to remove nutrients and nothing worked so i put a emperor aquatics UV unit on and while it didn't solve the problem entirely cut cut the cyano down by 75% at least. eventually i found the problem to be my GE 65k t5 bulbs.
Just as a bit of background on these tanks, they only had one fish each and I rarely fed them. i did huge water changes,short photo periods, phosphate removers and all tests always said zero. however i had so much cyano that after a few days there would be so many air bubbles in it that the eggcrate (with frags) would float to the surface ... I don't think the water could have been any cleaner at the time . at one point i changed a few of the bulbs out from the GE 65k's to some blue+'s and the cyano went away in days on that side of the tank. I then switched them around and had the same results and the cyano came back with full force under the 65k . so i then moved the blue+ to the other frag tank that shares the same water and had the same results. I know the 65k's have more par than blue+ but i don't think it is that significant that it would have this kinda night and day effect with cyano. Everyone has their own theories on cyno but i no longer believe that water nutrients are the main driving force for cyano and bulbs certainly have effect , however i cant diffinately say its the PAR or color that really mattered , maybe both. Please be aware that much of this is anecdotal and not really any proof of anything but it was enough for me to form an opinion : )
my UV now sits in the corner unused because i can not justify the power and cost of bulb changes when it is not being used to treat anything specific.
so while i have used both at one time i choose "I don't run anything." in your poll
Just as a bit of background on these tanks, they only had one fish each and I rarely fed them. i did huge water changes,short photo periods, phosphate removers and all tests always said zero. however i had so much cyano that after a few days there would be so many air bubbles in it that the eggcrate (with frags) would float to the surface ... I don't think the water could have been any cleaner at the time . at one point i changed a few of the bulbs out from the GE 65k's to some blue+'s and the cyano went away in days on that side of the tank. I then switched them around and had the same results and the cyano came back with full force under the 65k . so i then moved the blue+ to the other frag tank that shares the same water and had the same results. I know the 65k's have more par than blue+ but i don't think it is that significant that it would have this kinda night and day effect with cyano. Everyone has their own theories on cyno but i no longer believe that water nutrients are the main driving force for cyano and bulbs certainly have effect , however i cant diffinately say its the PAR or color that really mattered , maybe both. Please be aware that much of this is anecdotal and not really any proof of anything but it was enough for me to form an opinion : )
my UV now sits in the corner unused because i can not justify the power and cost of bulb changes when it is not being used to treat anything specific.
so while i have used both at one time i choose "I don't run anything." in your poll
