Should I or Shouldn't I?

[Moose]

Just wondering if anyone can help me get off the fence in running ozone or not and the expierences of those who do run it and maybe the complications to using it. Why ozone you ask I measure ORP and haven't been able to get it up to 380mv from 300mv I like to run it high I have had good results with high ORP. Thanks again for sharing

[Pescador]

Here's some excellent articles by Randy Holmes-Farley from Reefkeeping.
Ozone and the Reef Aquarium, Part 1: (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-03/rhf/index.php)
Chemistry and Biochemistry (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-03/rhf/index.php)

Ozone and the Reef Aquarium, Part 2: (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-04/rhf/index.php)
Equipment and Safety (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-04/rhf/index.php)

ORP and the Reef Aquarium (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-12/rhf/feature/index.php)

I think the most effective way to use ozone is with a reactor.
I only know of a couple ozone reactors, the MTC (http://www.marinetechnical.com/page6.html) and the ALS (http://www.aqualifesupport.com/getDetail.php?ID=603260).

Here's a thread (http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=26738&page=4&highlight=ozone+reactor) that shows both on page 4.

There are DIY options as well like the tubing method in the article and if your handy with acrylic you could build something like the ALS reactor fairly easily. I think Bryan (http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/member.php?u=33) on this board was going to give it a shot.

You can inject it into a skimmer but I think it's harder to filter the effluent with carbon and if it's a high flow skimmer it doesn't get the contact time.
Besides the number ozone can do on non ozone safe materials.

I'm using the ALS and I think it's working fine for me, I did add a big MTC reactor for carbon, I used a Phosban reactor with carbon at first and I could still smell ozone. Plus I think the larger water volume helps to stabilize the pressure in the ozone reactor.

There are basically 5 components if you use a reactor: a pressure air pump (like a Luft pump), air dryer, ozone generator (preferably a controller), ozone reactor and a carbon filter(reactor).

It can sound complicated but once it's setup I change the carbon, and recharge the air dryer once in a while but that's about it .
I find I clean the glass a lot less often and the water really sparkles.
All said and done I still think it was worth it.:wink: