Who uses ozone?

[JohnnyMantis]

What does it smell like? Isn't it just oxygen?

An electric train that you get X-mas makes ozone, so that's the odor you smell.

 

[64Ivy]

Thought I would give a heads up to any other MRC skimmer owners running ozone. If your skimmer has the quick release option, the o-ring in the spears union is NOT ozone safe. My MR-6 has this union and it started leaking after only a few months of running ozone. At the moment Andy is checking on a replacement o-ring. He says that these o-rings are Buna-N and the ozone safe o-rings are EPDM. Can anyone else confirm which one is safe? I heard the exact opposite in another thread.

BTW, FWIW, I cannot see any visible damage, deterioration, hardening, or brittleness of the o-ring. All I know is that it didn't used to leak and now it does after a few months of ozone use. None of the flange o-rings are leaking. Andy said the flange o-rings are EPDM.

Yo Travis, just wondering if there have been any updates in this regard. I have the MR-7 and plan to join the Ozone Club once I'm back in CT. I went with the Red Sea 100mg AquaZone Deluxe kit btw, and will probably shoot for the 0.18gm/hr mark I see bandied about so much. Could do without the O ring leak though. Anything new?

 

[Travis]

I ended up ordering some replacement EPDM o-rings from some place. I can't remember where as it was a while ago. Andy recommended the place so he would probably know. I think the spears o-rings are EPDM anyways. I had a good link to a place that showed what types of o-rings (EPDM, BUNA, etc.) work with certain chemicals. Each o-ring has its advantages and disadvantages in different situations.

In the long run, it didn't end up being o-ring deterioration from ozone anyways. It is just the union itself. I put a brand new o-ring in it and I got the same results. I talked to Andy some more about it and ended up putting some vaseline on the o-ring and it fixed the problem. I'm not sure why the union leaks but I was running my water level above the union at that time. I now run it about 1" below the flange to the riser tube and use vaseline, which keeps it from leaking.

 

[jackryan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=4363920#post4363920 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ldrhawke
Since this has been revived, I will make a comment about what I now believe is often a possible misconception about the effect of feeding ozone into a skimmer.

It is often stated that by feeding ozone the skimmate gets thicker. It does, but after using ozone for a couple of years and played around with it to adjust skimmate, I believe it is for another reason that the skimmate gets thicker and starts to clump.

I have increased the size of my skimmer and when I feed ozone the skimmate does get drier and thicker. But, I can get the exact same results by restricting and reducing the skimmer air flow into the venturi. When I hook up the venturi to the ozone, the air flow is restricted more and the air flow is reduced in the same manner as it pulls air through the ozonator and dryer. I no longer believe the thickened skimmate is the result of the O3 reaction but simply results of the reduced air flow when you hook up the ozone to the ejector.

Ozone does clarify the water but I don't believe it has any real affect of thickening skimmate as a lot of people believe. The skimmate does gets thicker, but I believe it is really caused by slightly reduced air flow which makes the skimmate less wet, and not any reaction with the ozone. It is easy enough to test by belief by simply removing the ozone line and restricting the air flow to the venturi to be the same as the pressure drop when feeding ozone.

A negative about feeding ozone into the inlet of a pinwheel pump is the pinwheel plastic breaksdown and reduces the impellor life. The little pins start to break off in about 6 months.

This seems to be a very good observation / theory. I wonder how many of the folks on this thread have the ozonizer output go straight to the skimmer and how many others use a special kind of reactor or controlled output area (w/ activated carbon) of some kind.

-JackRyan

 

[Reefflections]

Want to bring this thread to the top again,being it's a good subject here.
Here is my problem that I've been having.
I have a Red Sea AZ Plus 100But my high setting is only been 323 I put in new balls(media).New probe from Pinpoint.I can set it at 100 or even say 20 %.And the results are the same
I have a Euro reef skimmer,and ran the Ozone into the intake line of the skimmer intake.I've even added and air pump to drive the Oxone into that like also.But the end results are the same reading of 323.It supposed to handle 250 gallons system,and I'm under that mark.So what I'm I missing here?Anyone have a clue using Red Sea Ozone?I know things have effect on the Oz.But ever since it's been set up,it can't even break the 323 mark?Just a few pointers,for those might have had same problems also.