Avast Marine Ozone Reactor?

[psykobowler]

FYI, try not to focus on the ORP numbers. They are meaningless. What does the 400mv tell you to do? Just look at the tank. If it is crystal clear then it is working. If you run an orp controller then it would come on/off 24hrs a day. I'ld rather have it run when we are asleep away from the tank rather than during the day when we are standing in front of the tank. Less exposure to ozone is good. It doesn't take much ozone to have crystal clear water. It is not dependent on ORP.

[LouH]

Originally Posted by demariners

I also notice on Avast website that the unit has bubbles near the top on the video. I see no such bubbles.

I run the small Mutiny reactor. I've driven it both with an Eheim 1250 and a 1260. The 1260 made many bubbles due to creating greater airflow through the venturi, and I assume due to the impingement of the influent on the bubble plate. The 1250 makes some bubbles, but it certainly doesn't fill the top chamber with bubbles like the 1260 does or like you see in Avast's video. I emailed them once to ask if bubbles made a difference but never got a response. I don't want anyone to take that as poor customer service on their end. I've called them before and got great service and an unsolicited email as follow-up to the problem that they helped me with.

Anyway, both pumps can get the tank's ORP up to 420 as measured by my Red Sea 50 mg/hr unit (the one with the digital display and probe). My tank is a 120 gallon reef with about 15 fish (damsels, a tang,wrasse, gobies).

I also run an Apex controller and measure ORP with a probe on that unit as well. What is interesting is that the Apex will tell me that ORP is 340 mV while the Red Sea unit is measuring 420 mV. When I put either probe in a 400 mV calibration solution, both read 400 mV. Both probes are in the main display and the ozone effluent goes to the sump. I set my Red Sea unit to shut off at 420 mV, and the Apex is programmed to cut power to the Red Sea unit if ORP exceeds 450 mV.

These days my ozone unit is set to produce 15 mg of O3/hr, and the unit does not have to run continuously to mantain ORP.

Lou

[LouH]

I had a typo in my post. The Apex cuts power to the ozone generator when it measures ORP at 350 mV.

[demariners]

Well I must be doing something wrong then. I have a MAG 3 pump like they say on their website with the luft pump. I have everything at FULL blast. Meaning I have the luft at 100% and the poseidon ozone generator at 100%. I also removed the air drier. I have a post filter with carbon in it. My ORP usually is stable at 280. Some days it drops and some days it gets to about 285 but no more then that. I notice the water isn't OZONE clear. I have had ozone before on my other tanks and I notice the difference with 375 ORP and 280 ORP. Either I am doing something wrong or my ozone generator is not outputting what it says. I have given up and purchased a new ozone generator just to see if it makes a difference.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Can you measure ORP inside the reactor?

[LouH]

My Red Sea unit quit putting out ozone a while back. I ended up disassembling the unit and cleaned out the corona discharge chamber with DI water. The amount of dirt that came out was really surprising. The unit had been in service for only one year. Before turning the unit back on I ran air through it for 36 hours. Once cleaned it ran just fine and now produced ozone as if it were new. Perhaps your unit simply needs cleaning. To test it out you can simply pull the outley hose off of your unit and give it the smell test. It should be obvious if it is working or not.

FWIW, I run the recommended Luft pump and could never achieve the 2 lpm (or was it cfm?) that Avast recommends. In the end it doesn't seem to matter. I can maintain any ORP level that I choose with a 50 mg/hr unit.

Lou

[demariners]

I will have to check the ORP in the chamber. I am able to achieve 1.5 sph on the meter but then again that is with everything at full strength.

[demariners]

Well there must be something wrong. My ORP now dropped from 280 to 220 overnight. I noticed in my reactor the ribbon media is a brownish/yellow color. Is this normal? I think there maybe something wrong with my generator. I am going to open it up and make sure I can smell the ozone and it is functioning properly.

[Rploaded]

My media turned brown also... Trying increasing the water glow until your moving .5cfm

That's what I did to raise my orp.....

[demariners]

I have it set at 1.5 sph or whatever on the meter. Not sure if thats what you mean?

[LouH]

I tossed the Dwyer rotometer. You don't need it.

[demariners]

Well I can not exactly increase my water flow unless I get a new pump. I am using a MAG 3 I think it is called. I have the luft at 100% and the Ozotech at 100%. I recalibated the probe yesterday to make sure. Still my ORP doesn't go above 300. I removed the air dryer I was using so now the pump goes straight to the ozotech and then to the reactor. What is the brown caused by? Is it safe? It looks like a chocolate milkshake in there.

[LouH]

My reactor got crud in it two times:

- I was overdosing 2-part

- when my unit wasn't producing ozone.

[LouH]

If your unit is producing ozone, you'll smell it. When I set my generator at 15 mg/hr, I can pull the hose from the reactor's venturi and I can clearly smell ozone. A 100 mg/hr unit should burn your eyes if you get too close to it.

[demariners]

Well I opened up the unit and also turned it on and I can SMELL it most definitely. It must be working. So what am I doing wrong? I have set the dial on the stupid thing all the way to 220 mg/hr. My ORP currently reads 210. My tank is small at 55 gallons and I figured I could run it at 30%. It goes into my reactor with the 300 gph mag3 pump (as recommended on their site) and the luft pump is at 100%. I then run the output into a carbon filter in a media reactor then that goes to the water? Any ideas? There must be something wrong here. I have a buddy with ozone and his water looks insanely clear and his ORP is at 350.

[demariners]

Could it be I have too much carbon in my carbon reactor? Would that remove the ozone from the water?

[LouH]

You want all of the free ozone out of the water by the time it leaves the reactor. The whole point of the reactor is to maximize gas to water contact, and therefore lots of plastic strips for surface area. You also don't want a ton of flow through the reactor. You want dwell time. If you are getting ozone into your vessel through the venturi and a high pressure Luft pump at the correct flow rate, then you should be there. What is your ORP variation over several days with no ozone added? That might give some insight.

Lou

[demariners]

My ozone reactor does NOT have a venturi....... My ORP without Ozone is about the same at 190-210 or so. I set the air flow at 100% and the SPH on the thing shows 1.5-2.0 which is what I am told it should be by Avast Marine. Take a look at the pictures. You'll also notice my ozone reactor is starting to become brown.

[LouH]

Why no venturi? I run with one.

[demariners]

[demariners]

That's how it came. I don't know.

[LouH]

I can't see the pics.

[demariners]

Here we go

[demariners]

Ok, so I put a valve at the inlet for the water and I reduced the water flow through it. By doing this however now the output "Surges" water through. Not sure if this is the right way to do it. I am going to contact Avast tomorrow but each time I have they said that the ORP doesn't matter. But it seems to matter in my situation because it is not working.

[LouH]

You should get surges of water. I had regular flow disruption/air pockets in the effluent from the reactor with an Ehiem 1260. Since stepping down to a 1250, the air pockets in the effluent are even larger and the water flow is less.

FWIW, when I first started up my reactor I had similar issues which led me down the path of running the 1260 as opposed to the recommended 1250. I also ended up raising the bubble/impact plate as far as I could without it interfering with the bottom of the venturi. With that configuration I filled the head space of the reactor with fine bubbles. Over time my ORP came up. It didn't happen in a couple of days. It was more than a week if I recall correctly. I switched back to the 1250 just a couple of weeks ago to make space in my sump and to have lower power consumption. I lost the fine bubbles in the chamber head space, but can still hold ORP where I want with the ozone generator set at 15 mg/h. Perhaps it is just a matter of time with your system. You may have a lot of anoxic zones in your tank due to sand beds and/or decaying matter. That will drive down ORP. I know that my ORP will dip down to as low as 250 if I significantly disturb the sand bed. One other thing to look at is pH. I do no know why, but my ORP drops as pH increases and the opposite is true as well. It isn't a huge differential, but it is a part of the equation.

I can understand the frustration of having something not work when you seem to do everything right. I tried switching from a calcium reactor to 2-part because I got tired of constantly adjusting the needle valve and changing failed selenoids. I fought wih dosing for 6 months and ultimately went back to the calcium reactor. I just could not make the 2-part hold target Ca and Alk levels where I wanted them. I ended up going back to the calcium reactor and have now no issues with water chemistry. I hate to say it, but somethine these things happen without a clear explanation as to why.

Good luck and be patient.

Lou