should i O3?

[valid]

i saw spanky suggesting somewhere that the turnover through a skimmer should be 4x-10x. i wonder: if my skimmer throughput will only be 2x (for a full 2 minute dwell time), should i consider ozone?

2 reef (of course!) tanks to be plumbed in common
bb (actually aragocrete veneer bottom)
1 high light & one less light
lots of internal circulation

also, i could manually vary the return to preference one tank or the other each week - in this way i could highly skim each tank, but only on alternating days/weeks?

thoughts?

[Casey]

skip the ozoneWelcome to TRT

[gregt]

Do UV instead. It produces enough ozone and provides the benefits of UV too.

[galleon]

Ditto.

[valid]

thanks guys,

why does everyone hate O3 so much? i thought the idea was to break stuff up so it would fractionate out quicker. if my problem will be that i only have a 2x throughput, wouldn't it help?

is the advice against O3 mostly because it ain't worth the trouble/expense, or will it cause problems per se?

i've been thinking about uv instead anyway, but i didn't realize it would help w/ fractionation. (remember, my 1* concern is not fulfilling "spanky's rule" )

what about my other idea of alternating the return between tanks?

[gregt]

I don't hate O3. It's just a hassle, and potentially dangerous. (very low risk though), and UV makes enough in a safe manner that it's just not necessary.

[Doug1]

Its a voracious oxidizer, hard on equipment, hazardous if not carefully used, I would spend the money else where

[Spanky]

What Doug and Greg said.

valid == WELCOME ABOARD!!

Ozone is just a flat out pain, expensive, and touchy equipment - don't forget you need a air dryer.

UV is basically, size right, flow right = plug and play. Plus with the advancements in the new HO UV bulbs and electronic ballasts, it's really easier. And like Greg said, the newer bulbs produce a small amount of O3, so you'll get oxidation in proximity of the bulb.

[Casey]

Spanky he doesnt need an air dryer it just makes it work much better and those dryers are a pain in the butt trust me.

[Spanky]

Am I showing my age again?

I remember cleaning those old rusty things out.

[Casey]

I tell ya what try dumping the beads all over the kitchen floor without the dog eating one of them while the wife yells at you and then asking her can I use the stove to dry them in

[Spanky]

VISUAL

ROTFL

[valid]

hey, i'm all for easy! i didn't want to get into a lot of the monitoring/controlling issues anyway.
just never realized they would produce a significant enough amount of ox'n to actually break stuff down enough to help the skimmer.

i take it nobody thinks it worthwhile to alternate the tank returns?
any other ideas short of getting a larger skimmer?

thanks so far

[Spanky]

Originally posted by valid
i take it nobody thinks it worthwhile to alternate the tank returns?

Woops, missed that part. I'm a strong believer in heavy skimming, so I would have them both on skimmers.

Originally posted by valid
any other ideas short of getting a larger skimmer?

Get a skimmer that you can overdrive, that helps a lot.

You were thinking O3, how about UV?

[valid]

ok now, so ideally i want (?):

**lots of closed loop circulation in the tanks to keep stuff suspended.

**~7x throughput per hour to/from the tanks to keep stuff flowing toward the filtration.

**drain from tanks to a sump through 100micron socks to remove particulates. (or could i just use this sump as a settle out tank then vacuum it instead of using socks?)

**from there, go to uv rated at 30000mws.

**from uv go to skimmer rated 4x-10x throughput per hour at 2 minutes dwell time.

**from skimmer go to separate sump for return to tanks.