DIY Ozone System

[duanes]

Ozone may break down, but might not break down fast enough, and if not totally gone, could then cause damage to fishes gills. It's even fatal to humans if strong enough.
Sorry about my previous post, can't figure how to paste the organic list.

 

[wizzin]

Thanks for that. I admit, being a FW keeper, ozone as a means for detoxification and breakdown of organic compounds is a new concept for me. Nonetheless, I'm intrigued by it, and it's caused me to do some research on the matter. I should've done that prior to asking

It sounds like the negative effects of ozone on fish stocks is more of an issue with prolonged treatment, and in high concentrations (.3ppm). I'm curious what level of concentration is achieved with chomper's Wally world device. Also, it appears that (at least in commercial applications) the treatment is only used for short periods of time depending on the strength of the unit. It looks like de-ozonation can be as simple as the proper size of contact chamber and length of time the ozone is in the chamber before being released back to the system.

One last discouraging comment. I found a good bit of information suggesting that the materials used in the construction of an ozone treatment system need to be considered carefully due to the corrosive nature of ozone, and even went as far as to say that PVC and plastics in general are not a good choice of materials.

 

[duanes]

Chompers carbon column as you can see by the danger in 0.3 ppm, is needed, to quench even the little bit that gets thru.
There is a method for determining concentration using indigo trisulfanate, but not easily done and read without proper equipment.
You can check the proceedure out in the bible of the water industry manual, Standard Methods for the Treament of Water and Wastewater,
there may also be info on the American Water Works Association site (AWWA)
And you are right, ozone oxidizes plastic, rubber and a lot of other materials.
We use ozone 24/7 in our water treatment proccess, and have a large building to create it and treat our influent.

 

[Dr Joe]

National EPA standards set ozone air cleaner limits to 0.075ppm, significant harmful health effects occur above these levels, (I don't think this one is going to make it without a concentrator ).

If done properly any (leftover) ozone can be negated with the addition of air injection before the water is returned to the system (tank).

Wizzin is correct about the corrosive effects of the ozone (that's why it works). Silicone tubing is suggested for this application, for higher % of ozone, Polyethylene & PTFE are recommended.

Note to CHOMPERS:
To get the most out of an ozone generator you need to feed it with dry air, so drawing air thru a descant before entering the generator.

I've not used this on this small of a scale (I have large output O3 generators and just tapped off what I needed) so I support CHOMPERS in this endeavor and appreciative of him for sharing his work and findings.

Dr Joe

.

 

[Danger_Chicken]

may not have to vac the gravel you say? hmmm, you've got my attention.

 

[RowingMunkeyCU]

Not to rain on your parade, but is it possible that it's really just from pushing all your water through a ton of activated carbon? Could be an interesting experiment, to just run the system on a dirty tank with > 0 nitrates and yellow/brown water, without the ozone generator being plugged in (just the water running through the ozone system, without the ozone).

 

[CHOMPERS]

Carbon doesn't really do anything for nitrates. Otherwise we'd all already know about it. It is no secret that carbon will absorb dissolved organics. Ozone is nothing new and its oxidizing potential is well known. If the dissolved organics can be oxidized before the carbon has a chance to absorb them, then it can be assumed that the carbon bed will last longer. Also, it is unquestionable with the rate that the water cleared that the ozone was working.

I can't run new experiments with a control tank without building new units. The funds aren't there, but I agree that it would be interesting to know the difference in rates of consumption.

 

[WalterMelon]

Can you be more specific with the word 'sessil'? I tried to look it up with several misspellings and just got pages of foreign websites
.

Sessile, in botany, it means without a stalk. In Zoology it means non-moving, ie; barnacles.

So in this case it means the bacteria stays put in bio-filter.

 

[necrocanis]

Hmmm, so chompers do you run it 24/7? Any strange readings in your tests? Kind of got me wondering how difficult, and how much it would costs to do one of these for my 4000 gal build........I'm keeping a close eye on this one. I'm very intrigued. In the end though I'd like to know your goal for an aquatic ecosystem ran with this system. Will this reduce/eliminate any of your tank maintenance? Nice thread and I second a sticky.

 

[X24]

Hmmm, so chompers do you run it 24/7? Any strange readings in your tests? Kind of got me wondering how difficult, and how much it would costs to do one of these for my 4000 gal build........I'm keeping a close eye on this one. I'm very intrigued. In the end though I'd like to know your goal for an aquatic ecosystem ran with this system. Will this reduce/eliminate any of your tank maintenance? Nice thread and I second a sticky.

for a tank that large it'd be difficult to diy an ozone system i think. May be better with a drip system/hydroponics.