Reef Discussion
I ran ozone on my old temperate tank.
The main reason I was using it on this particular tank was to increase the skimmers working capacity through raising the oxidation potential of the system. Since the fish I was keeping were highly active with reasonably high metabolic rates, and I was feeding mostly high protein food stuffs (chopped fish, mussels, prawns etc.) and the lack of a sump, I felt ozone was the best option to increase the "filtration" capacity of the tank.
Worked an absolute treat too, I remember doing an experiment by turning the ozone off for two weeks to see if it really was making that much of a difference. The skimmate changed within a day or two, from thick, dark, sludge like material, to a lighter, foamier material, giving me the impression this lighter material was less broken down, or less oxidized, than with running ozone. Water clarity deteriorated, and algae bloomed. I'll check later today to see what the exact model ozoniser I was running, as I'm off to work in a minute.
The main reason I was using it on this particular tank was to increase the skimmers working capacity through raising the oxidation potential of the system. Since the fish I was keeping were highly active with reasonably high metabolic rates, and I was feeding mostly high protein food stuffs (chopped fish, mussels, prawns etc.) and the lack of a sump, I felt ozone was the best option to increase the "filtration" capacity of the tank.
Worked an absolute treat too, I remember doing an experiment by turning the ozone off for two weeks to see if it really was making that much of a difference. The skimmate changed within a day or two, from thick, dark, sludge like material, to a lighter, foamier material, giving me the impression this lighter material was less broken down, or less oxidized, than with running ozone. Water clarity deteriorated, and algae bloomed. I'll check later today to see what the exact model ozoniser I was running, as I'm off to work in a minute.
12-18 months ago when I had RTN I started looking through the tunze info as it states it can help with hard corals. After loosing a lot of SPS to RTN I was also desperate for it not to reoccur !
Also concerned about health issues I followed the tunze route and only dose small amounts <10mg/hr so used only for clarity (& suggested SPS health !) 4 hrs a day.
Does it help ? I have no proof either way although it is one of the additions I would NOT take out.
Unit... I use a 0-50mg/hr adjustable unit (from ebay) and a small air pump straight into my skimmer. I have both on a timer. I have always been looking for a low power unit ~50mg/hr with integrated airpump, I found a resun one although for me its really just replacing same-same although tempting to get a single unit
Also concerned about health issues I followed the tunze route and only dose small amounts <10mg/hr so used only for clarity (& suggested SPS health !) 4 hrs a day.
Does it help ? I have no proof either way although it is one of the additions I would NOT take out.
Unit... I use a 0-50mg/hr adjustable unit (from ebay) and a small air pump straight into my skimmer. I have both on a timer. I have always been looking for a low power unit ~50mg/hr with integrated airpump, I found a resun one although for me its really just replacing same-same although tempting to get a single unit
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I run a UV purely because i read something years ago regarding disease in fish and that UV can assist in lowering the risk. Vague I know but i have on my old tank and continued to on the new one for some reason. If someone can give a good reason to stop using it then i would happily look t doing so as it would free up a pump and give me slightly more room in the Sump.
Fingers crossed i have had no issues up to this point (that i know of) with running UV. All fish seem very happy and disease has not been as issue. I will go in and have a look at the brand i am using and let you know.
Fingers crossed i have had no issues up to this point (that i know of) with running UV. All fish seem very happy and disease has not been as issue. I will go in and have a look at the brand i am using and let you know.
UV lowering the disease risk is a broad spectrum term for BS. Most common aquarium rated UV systems don't produce the UV length or intensity to control even common diseases, and a few of the cheaper ones will barely control algae.
There's a formula you can use to work out what UV you should be using, and it all starts with what it is your trying to control/lower the risk of. On average the minimum IMO anyone should run is an intensity of 15,000uM/cm2 or preferably double that. From memory to control marine white spot you need a UV with an output of something like 120,000uM/cm2! (don't quote me on this figure).
I've found UV to be much like ozone, you need to know a bit about it for it to make sense on what it is trying to accomplish and to be able to utilise the systems to their maximum efficiency.
