Magic Kiwi's Tank Journal Thread

[Magickiwi]

Originally Posted by Madreefer

Hey why'd you decide to run ozone? I dont know of anybody that runs it. Always wondered how and what it does for skimmers to make them work so much better.

Overnight I had about a 100% increase on what was already collected in my skim cup during the previous week. According to Tunze the ozone helps break down the long protein molecules into ones small enough to be skimmed. Skimmers basically use O2 as an oxidizer in the reaction chamber; with an ozone generator it uses 02 and the MUCH more oxidizing O3.

I decided to run ozone because I added a couple pieces of SPS coral and with my tank being relatively young I want to maximize my chances of the coral surviving. I ran a Coralife Turbo Twist but wasn't getting enough dwell time on the lamp to make any difference because it is inline with my main return pump.

I was dubious about adding it because so many people said you don’t need it if you've got a UV sterilizer or your tank is mature or whatever. It is more complicated to use and there are safety concerns but seeing what an impact it has made in such a short time has convinced me it’s something I want to use. The generator has a built in ORP controller and even with the probe being an extra cost it is still cheaper than many UV sterilizers and uses less electricity.

A good example is that last night before dosing my tank with phytoplankton my ORP value was 192. Immediately after adding the phyto my ORP value decreased to 148. This morning it was 178 and climbing again.

My concerns are mostly around increasing the ORP value of my tank water to a safe and effective level without A) exposing my family or livestock to dangerous levels of ozone and B) slowing down the growth of my coral or coralline.