Sterilizing My Grow With Ozone

[ken dog]

Very cool...
Regarding treating the water while in the pipes, that is what I am attempting as well... I have at least 4 to 5 feet before it hits the res.

Regarding Venturi tubes being the same...not so sure about that. Even among hot tub venturi's, they are color coded with regards to water flow... And the gas intake is slightly different in all of them.
Regarding dissolved oxygen meters, I am planning on buying the Hanna... The videos on YouTube are very informative, and it seems like the easiest to use and calibrate.

 

[timmur]

I'm using a probe with an Agrowtek controller. I'm not sure of the brand as I haven't received it yet. I'll post it up once it arrives.

 

[ken dog]

4 hours later, and the system is full... started it up and set the orp meter to 350... And decided to run a three-quarter hose down into my reservoir 5 inches, instead of having it splash on top of the water.

 

[ken dog]

Decided to turn it up a notch, to 400... It's climbing like a rocket!

 

[ken dog]

Turned it back down to 300, and it's dropping fast.

 

[timmur]

Looks like good control!

 

[ken dog]

="timmur, post: 1668454, member: 63138"]Looks like good control!

I'm excited. :)


It's been a long day... LOL

 

[timmur]

I would be too! Can't wait to see how it works during a grow.

 

[ken dog]

I would be too! Can't wait to see how it works during a grow.

Same here... I plan on putting the clones in the water tomorrow.

 

[ken dog]

I want to thank you fellow farmers for helping me along and motivating me to get this done in one fell swoop.. Been working a lot these days, and finally had a day off.
I couldn't have done it without you.

Thanks again... Much more later... hopefully.:)

 

[timmur]

I'm totally rooting for you! If you've seen my room build on this forum then you know I'm a firm believer in technology to achieve certain ends. I really hope this works cause I'll jump right on board!

 

[ken dog]

Thanks:)

 

[ken dog]

Today I turned the ORP controller up to 600 mV, in an attempt to sterilize the system before introducing plants tomorrow.

Yes, I completely cleaned every component with bleach before assembling.
But hey, why not?

 

[timmur]

Good call!

 

[ken dog]

I noticed that I have a little too much off-gassing... I think it is due to not enough contact time in the pipes.

So what I did, is connect 20 feet of 3/4 tubing to the epicenter, to give the ozone more contact time with the water before it empties into the rez.
The bubbles are smaller, and there is far less off-gassing that I can smell.
I have a mixer coming in the mail this week, and I will put that after the Venturi to see if that helps, while removing the 20 extra feet of hose.
The idea is to have all the ozone used up by the time it reaches the reservoir... That means either smaller bubbles, longer contact time, or both.

 

[ken dog]

My mixer came in the mail today... the flow direction is clearly marked.

I will change the position of the Mazzei Venturi and put it after the chiller, and put the mixer after the Mazzei Venturi.
There is no reason to put the ozone through the chiller, because all it will do is corrode the chiller prematurely.

I will address the problem of the time that the ozone spends in the lines (for the ozone reaction), for a later post.

 

[ken dog]

My initial solution for the ozone reactor was crude, but effective... the ozone was in contact with the water (oxidizing it), because it went through 25 feet of hose.
Nevertheless, the problem of the off-gassing was not solved... and since I'm growing indoors, solving the off-gassing problem is paramount.

What I came up with, is using my epicenter as a chamber reactor, and using a net pot filled with activated charcoal (installed in a regular bucket lid instead of an epicenter lid), as an off-gassing neutralizer.

The 7 1/2 inch x 1 inch schedule 40 PVC pipe is connected to two right angle couplings... one is connected to the epicenter outlet, and the other exits at the bottom of the rez.
Friction fit only.

The other item that is laid out is a section of net I cut out of my drying net... The activated charcoal will sit inside of that.

 

[ken dog]

Here it is... Installed.

I will now turn the ORP meter up to 600 millivolts... And see if I can smell anything.

I have taped the holes in the lid so nothing will escape.

 

[ken dog]

While I am waiting for the ORP to come up to 600 millivolts, I will let everyone know that I have previously ordered an air dryer for my ozone generator... It is imperative that the air that is entering the ozone generator, is very dry... Otherwise it shortens the life of the ozone generator, and makes the corona discharge less effective.

Preliminary result is no odor at all.

 

[ken dog]

15 minutes into it so far... Still, absolutely no ozone smell... This actually might work!