Boomer : Whether it be skimmers, reactors, or tubing they need to be ozone-proof. You still need or should use GAC to remove any RTO or potential RTO. You should think about an Ozone controller to monitor what is going on.  So, it is more of a cost thing. Of course this also means more labor intensive, a good DPD test kit to see if there are any RTO’s, cleaning the probe to stop any false high ORP readings and cleaning the Ozone unit so it is more efficient. You need to also think of a air dryer to remove any moisture. Moisture can really drop the Ozone output, which means your Ozone output settings will be to low.

Chad: Clear water makes for a prettier aquarium. Full potential of skimming with the help of ozone ultimately leads to less organics which normally break down to ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, and phosphates. The lack of organics help reduce stress on some livestock and slow or stop algal blooms. 

3. Ozone Reactor, by far the best but another thing to buy and most aren’t designed correctly so you are limited on choice. Matter of fact, I have only seen one correctly designed that is for public aquariums and I don’t think it is even made anymore. There used to be one where I innovated a new injection means and level controller, also not around anymore. The one for public aquariums used methods similar to mine. Properly designed reactors are expensive. It is not that you have to have a fancy one, anymore than you need a fancy skimmer. But functionality and efficiency wise a fancy Ozone Reactor outdoes a fancy skimmer.

Boomer, what are all those bioballs in the reactor? What are their purpose? 

Boomer: The bioballs and pvc shavings are used to spread out the water into a thin film, which allows the ozone to do its job better. Some units in the past, that were produced for the hobby and PA, had the pvc shavings and/or bioballs replaced with industrial “fogging” nozzles. This produced a tumbling effect and mist of very fine drops. So, there was no need for a media. Some units also had automated float switches, to give a constant water level; they were either electronic or mechanical and controlled the air flow, thus the internal pressure and water level.

Let’s get back to the topic! 

 Raj: The most common method of ozone injection is via your protein skimmer; just make sure it’s ozone compatible. You can also use a dedicated ozone reactor, but they’re unnecessary if you have an appropriate skimmer.

Chad: It is always a good question to ask the manufacturer of their protein skimmer when setting up ozone with a protein skimmer. Are all components of the protein skimmer Ozone resistant? If not, go with another protein skimmer which is ozone resistant, or do not use ozone.

Raj: Some materials are better at resisting the effects of ozone. You want to check the ozone resistance in both water and air situations; they differ vastly.

Is ozone dangerous?

What precautions should we take? Personally I didn’t think much of it and when I always have had one paired up with apex controller with ORP for security and a timer and it would run only during the time that everyone was sleeping and turned off about hour before everyone woke up as ozone dissipates in minutes and not hours and because it is heavier than regular oxygen molecules, it would sink. Was I right in this?

Chad:So long as nobody is sleeping on the floor next to the aquarium 😉  

Raj: You should assess why you’re wanting to use ozone and see if that task can be accomplished by something you can better control; something safer.

Raj, how do you guys utilize ozone in your LSS?

There are some very specific instances where we’ll use ozone in our LSS designs. 100% of them will require safety protocols. Not only do we employ ozone destruct units to neutralize ozone, but also ambient ozone monitors. When these monitors detect ozone in the air, they will sound an alarm (visual) and shut off the ozone generator. This ensures that your LSS room or house doesn’t get engulfed with ozone(if you have an O3 leak, your ORP probe isn’t going to tell you anything). 

Now there seems to be different measurements for treatment vs clarity. Can we go little bit more on this?

Chad: Aqua Medic recommends to start with 10mg of Ozone per hour for every 26 gallons. (0.384mg per gallon) This is only a starting point and a recommendations, not a concrete rule. I believe trying to define the difference of treatment vs clarity for most hobbyist will only have them chasing numbers when both treatment and clarity overlap quite a bit. Advanced hobbyists will find these differences based on their own aquariums’ requirements and techniques and can define them on their own if they choose to achieve different goals for their aquariums.

Boomer: For clarification no more than 0.3-0.5 mg / gal. But you can go much less than this, 0.1-0.2 mg/gal. The higher one is one from the past. The best ozone units have a controlled dial like a SANDER Ozonizer. Example, a 50 gal tank using a 25 mg ozone unit 0.2 x 50 = 10, so, you turn the dial on the unit to 10.These settings are more on the order of trial and error, these are just some things to start with. Without a Air Dryer these recommended levels or any recommended levels can drop a lot. Some don’t use dryers and just crank the ozone unit up. The reason for a ORP probe and a DPD test kit is so you know where you are at no matter how you do it.

What should we look for when we are trying to put one in our system?

Chad: What we are trying to achieve might be a little different than what we are looking for. We are trying to achieve an aquarium with clear water and the removal of more organics within the water column. What we should look for is both negative and positive aspects as a possible result of ozone dosing. We want to look for negative aspects so quick and calculated adjustments can be made to remove the possibility that ozone is the culprit. We also want to look for the positive aspects of a cleaner, clearer aquarium as this is the reason for adding ozone to the aquarium and should outweigh any potential problems if any at all. 

Raj: You want a quality unit from a strong, reputable manufacturer and size the unit properly for your system.

Any last advice? 

Boomer: When algae grows on the probe you get false high readings as they they release oxygen, oxides, superoxides, and peroxides, which raises the ORP at the probe algae interface

Please read these articles where I had a lot of input from Dr. Randy Holmes Farley. You can learn more from it than anywhere. Any questions let me know.