[APD] RE: Adding ozone to a planted tank

["Thomas Barr" <tcbiii at earthlink_net>]

"I'm pondering adding ozone to a planted tank, would anyone know how to go
about rigging it up?"

Yes, but why?

"I'm looking towards ease of maintenance (ie: easy replacement of carbon),
so
I'm thinking 2 x fluidized bed filter canister might do."

Why not just a nice canister filter or wet dry?
I've never be too keen on FBF's. They don't remove any particulate waste,
are sensitive to crashing if they are shut down for more than 15 minutes,
and I'm not interested in growing bacteria, I'm interested in growing
plants. The plants are the filter and produce high Redox through all the O2
production  

"aims: reduce pathogen levels, increase redox.
I have a KH of 4, PH 6.5
any thoughts?"

Sure, grow plants.
The high O2 levels send the redox way up nice and high.
Pathogens go way down.

Happy plants=> happy fish=> happy you.

I have not had _any_ diseases in 15 years since converting to planted
tanks. 
You can use O3 but it can be a PITA and uneeded, you ideally want to make
sure you remove the residual before it comes back into the tank, this is
often done with an activated carbon cup and also an air vent running
through carbon.Generally O3 is injected into the skimmer, the out gas and
the return water need to have the O3 removed. Some folks just dial the O3
down till they no longer have a bleach like smell.
And if you add too much, it'll kill things like bleach also.
You can hook the O3 up to a Redox controller for pre set (mv) value you are
after.

But it's fairly reliable, but you just don't need it and it will not the
tank any better nor make your routines any easier also.
Even salt folks are moving away from skimmers and O3,........
They dsicovered using plants to filter the water works better, eg Refugiums.
 
So you are way ahead by simply growing the plants well, doing the weekly
water changes, do that, and you'll never need to worry about the water
quality. 

Regards, 
Tom Barr

 

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