Remote Tank water Ozone treatment

[timmmysli]

Could you remove 10% of your tank volume every other day and treat with Ozone for a significant length of time then add the water back to the tank?

I'm running a high nutrient load NPS tank and I'm looking into ways of keeping the tank water clean, visually and in terms of dissolved waste. I'm currently performing 15-30% water changes every week on a 220ltr 1.5year old tank.

I already have a ozone unit and have it running for only short periods of time per day. What I have read has suggested that ozone is never really used efficiently when connected up to our reactors and tanks. So the basic idea was to treat a small volume of water that has been removed from the tank over hours then add some gac before then swapping over this treated water with some existing tank water. In theory this could be a cycle I continue during the week until I have the chance to go buy some saltwater on the weekends.

And no I'm not suggesting to do this instead of water changes :)

So if you treated the water this way would this have a positive impact on the tank or could totally sterile water be harmful to the tank?


:beer:

[jd474]

This is part of the process that "in-land" public aquariums use to recycle/reclaim large amounts of water, as it's much more cost effective than mixing new, and yes, it does work. However, on a small tank, I don't see any added benefit of running ozone instead of carbon. They have essentially the same end-result, with carbon being less of a hassle, IMO.

[BlueFaceAngel]

hmm i've never thought of taking old water change water and filter it through ozone....How affective would it be in cleaning the water instead of just using brand new ro saltwater, I would image you would need a very effective ozonizer and skimmer to gain any benefit.

I would go with completely sterile water. How do you plan to implement it?

[timmmysli]

Thanks for the input so far :)

I guess I could test this out as a once off but I was hoping for some more comments on the pos/neg before jumping in.

I figured this would be an extremely easy way to treat water with ozone without having to worry about effecting the entire tanks orp levels.

I understand a 30-50% water change each week with new salt water would be more effective but I'm not going to do that any time soon. Removing 10-15ltrs of water a day from the tank then replacing it via a drip sounds a bit easier lol And yes I'm still going to keep my standard water changes going :)

Keep in mind my tank is a very high nutrient system so I'm not suggesting this as a method for standard tanks. I'm already dosing Lanthanum, growing macro, using gac, using RODI, dosing reef actif and performing weekly water changes.

Thanks again,
Tim

[trueperc]

I really like this idea. I might try this as well. I believe the best thing to do is test the water after a treatment to make sure you are not adding nasty water back. Just with ozone killing everything in it. The idea of it being sterile is what you would want. To me it would be no different that what RO/di water is but this would be like adding new saltwater, just as long as the nitrates and phos are up there due to killing everything with ozone and maybe have the water before entering back into the main display go through carbon and maybe a fine filter sock.

[timmmysli]

@ trueperc

ike adding new saltwater, just as long as the nitrates and phos are up there due to killing everything with ozone

Thats the main concern I have. With a very high bio load what would the end products be after o3. From what you'd expect all organics to get broken down by the ozone (except for pre existing no3 and po4) and shouldn't end up polluting the water but I have zero experience.

I might have a go at this on the weekend after I buy some supplies and do a few water changes :)

[H20ENG]

Remember the other half of why we change the water is to replace lost elements. Most public aquariums are FO and dont have corals sucking the elements out of the water. If you are dosing and all parameters are in check, then go for it. Some will say that metals will end up concentrating in the water. Do a WC once in awhile.

We didnt recycle ours this way, but we did have a side stream loop (many public aquariums do) of ozone. This loop was raised to an ORP of >650mV for disenfection. It was then re mixed into the main (2500gpm) return flow, then on to deaeration boxes before flowing back to the tanks.

Filter it with carbon and be sure your skimmer is working great to get rid of the dissolved/ oxidized waste.

[timmmysli]

Thanks for the input H20ENG :)

I performed my standard water change on the weekend but also managed to do four ozone tests over the weekend as well.

I thought my water clarity was pretty good but after treating the water offline for a good 2-3 hours it had a noticeable blue RO look to it.

The tank looked pretty good but time will tell :)

[cmacmike]

Interesting concept, I currently maintain around 850 gallons in 3 different systems and have been looking for something like this. I agree with the idea of still doing water changes occasionally but there could be some cost savings here.

Please keep us in the loop on how this works out for you, I'm subscribing!

[cmacmike]

This is part of the process that "in-land" public aquariums use to recycle/reclaim large amounts of water, as it's much more cost effective than mixing new, and yes, it does work. However, on a small tank, I don't see any added benefit of running ozone instead of carbon. They have essentially the same end-result, with carbon being less of a hassle, IMO.

Could this process of treating a percentage of tank water seperately with gac over time and returning back to the system extend the time required for water changes if the system is dosed and water parameters are in range?

Looking to become more cost effective...

[trueperc]

Hey Timmmysli did you or can you test the ozonated water to see it there is any Pho, NO2 or NO3.
I really like this idea and am waiting a food grade drum and a ozone unit.

[timmmysli]

@ H20ENG

We didnt recycle ours this way, but we did have a side stream loop (many public aquariums do) of ozone. This loop was raised to an ORP of >650mV for disenfection. It was then re mixed into the main (2500gpm) return flow, then on to deaeration boxes before flowing back to the tanks.

Sorry about the brief reply the other day, I was in a real rush lol

I had originally considered using a spare dosing pump to cycle the water through a drum with the ozone in it. I like the remote idea due to the fact that I can run it in my garage and not worry about potential health issues.

How do the de-aeration boxes work?



Thanks for the replies all. I just want to stress that my tank is a bit different to the norm in that I have a good 100 little npc mouths to feed daily and that pollutes any tank pretty quickly.

I don't have any form of Hanna po4 meter so I can't really give any accurate measurements. Po4 and no3 were zero before the Remote Ozone, I have a bucket sitting from last weekend to see if theres anything bad (But I really don't have the equipment)

I've tested water from the tank that was treated with the ozone 5 days ago, nothing seems to have increased in terms of PO4 OR NO3. I don't have an ammonia test kits, it would be interesting to see if theres any form of ammonia.

[timmmysli]

So I guess dripping the treated water directly into the skimmers intake would be a good idea. What will happen to the oxidized waste once its reintroduced back into the tank?

[timmmysli]

Okay so I'm off to the lfs to get some nsw for a water change.

My normal water change is via my skimmer, I dial it up until it's really wet and then leave it to overflow into a bucket over a 3-4 hour period. The waters normally nasty and much darker in color than a standard water change. If I have the free time this week I might try a few of this form of water change and then treat the water with ozone afterwards.

I'll still do my 15% water change and chuck that out.