Agreed. Ozone can be dangerous if left unchecked and will impact everything in a tank, whereas UV will only kill what passes through the reaction chamber.I haven't gotten to research it much yet. What is the main risk to worry about? An out off control ozone generator?What would be the effects of pumping too much ozone into the system? Destruction of the bacterial population in the tank? Oxidative effects on soft tissue of gills on fish and on flesh of corals?
Are there any long-term worries? Any health and safety concerns for the household?
The main risk is some of the secondary byproducts of ozone dosing, if the dosing is too high. The first one that comes to mind is a bromide byproduct which has a very similar effect chlorine/chloramine. Like you intimated, it's a strong oxidant and can be removed with GAC. I would think coral irritation, gill irritation and bacterial reduction could all be potential side effects. I'm not aware of any long term effects and I don't think there are household safety issues AFAIK.
Agreed. Ozone can be dangerous if left unchecked and will impact everything in a tank, whereas UV will only kill what passes through the reaction chamber.I haven't gotten to research it much yet. What is the main risk to worry about? An out off control ozone generator? What would be the effects of pumping too much ozone into the system? Destruction of the bacterial population in the tank? Oxidative effects on soft tissue of gills on fish and on flesh of corals?
Are there any long-term worries? Any health and safety concerns for the household?
Short answer, yes.The main risk is the oxidation effects of ozone. In salt water ozone will oxidize compounds and create toxic forms of that someone. I believe Boron is the main concern, but I would have to look it up to be certain. Whenever I run ozone I run a TON of carbon to scrub out any toxic compounds created.
Also, high ozone levels are harmful to fish and to anyone in the household. If we run ozone at the lowest level (300 ppb) and something goes wrong and it runs continuously or at a higher concentration, then that ozone starts saturating the air inside the house. So let's say the house has a concentration of 200 ppb, the EPA NAAQS limit for ozone is 70 ppb! I spend a lot of time working with high concentrations of ozone in my career and I'll tell you when I've been breathing elevated levels of ozone I start feeling very wheezy and I have trouble breathing easily. High ozone levels leads to respiratory issues and oxidizes compounds in the air like NO into NO2, which is toxic to breathe. So if something goes wrong, then yes, you'll be putting your tank inhabitants and house inhabitants in danger. I've seen my anemones deflate and become ticked when I run ozone for more than a few minutes, so I imagine every animal feels that way when running ozone.
Thanks fellas. Its good to know people still in the biz! I think I'm going to limit mine and my dog's chances of visiting the ER again. I'm on a short leash with the wife already.