Sterilizing My Grow With Ozone

[ken dog]

608 and I can't smell the ozone.

for those interested, the reason you need an air dryer is because nitric acid can form when moisture is present... And if the intake is clogged with moisture, air flow slows down and the corona has too much time to split apart the air into ozone, and the ozone can get split apart... And in that case, more nitric acid can form.

And the reason that the activated carbon filter works, is because as the ozone passes through the carbon, it loses an oxygen atom and combines with another oxygen atom to form 02... And what doesn't combine to form oxygen, combines with the carbon to form carbon dioxide.

 

[ken dog]

that's it... My own design, inspired by the technology that the spa and reef industries use.... It's been a lot of fun. :)

I would advise anyone using ozone, to make sure that the excess ozone is neutralized... this is serious stuff, and half measures should not be taken.

 

[timmur]

Thanks for all of your work on this!

 

[palm eezy]

So the ozone injector doesn't pump, your venturi is siphoning all of that air on its own? Looks like an impressive amount of bubbles. That's what I hope to achieve, a champagne effect as it returns to my rez. I have ~35 ft of 1.5" pvc return line that I hope can achieve full saturation of DO with just the siphoning on its own... not sure how it's going to turn out yet.

Also, I think it's a great idea to not have the ozone go through the chiller.. I can tell the lifespan of my DIY setup is fairly limited. (2-3 years, maybe more, generator+fan+air pump)

 

[ken dog]

I woke up this morning to some flooding... Apparently, with less than two days exposed to the ozone, the chiller leaked.

Lesson learned and confirmed... The ozone cannot be exposed to pumps and filters...or chillers! :-O

This is not the first time that I have been vindicated for building a waterproof containment area for my grow.

For what it's worth, the ORP controller was set to 600 mV all night... no odor whatsoever.

 

[ken dog]

I'll check it out later today... It's entirely possible that I jiggled the gaskets at the top of the chiller when I was connecting and disconnecting everything, and the leak is there... Not caused by ozone.

 

[MGRox]

I'm totally rooting for you!

Pun intended???

@ken dog Ozone can definitely oxidize many materials but I'd still think it fast to ruin gaskets. Do you know what material the gaskets were made of? Even the PVC will go bad (brittle) after a bit of time (couple years?), I suppose. Guess with fish stuff many stick with CPVC for ozone contacted parts.
Excellent idea with the carbon placement too!!

Here's a chart for compatibility of materials

Spoiler: Pasted chart

Chemical Selected:
Ozone
Ratings -- Chemical Effect

• A = Excellent.
• B = Good -- Minor Effect,
  slight corrosion or
  discoloration.
• C = Fair -- Moderate Effect,
  not recommended for
  continuous use. Softening,
  loss of strength,
  swelling may occur.
• D = Severe Effect, not recommended for ANY use.
• N/A = Information not
  available

Compatibility
ABS plastic B1-Good
Acetal (Delrin®) C-Fair
Aluminum B-Good
Bronze B-Good
Buna N (Nitrile ) D-Severe Effect
Carbon Steel C-Fair
ChemRaz (FFKM) B-Good
Copper A-Excellent
CPVC A-Excellent
EPDM A-Excellent
Epoxy A1-Excellent
Fluorocarbon (FKM) A-Excellent
HDPE C2-Fair
Hypalon® A-Excellent
Hytrel® C-Fair
Kel-F® A-Excellent
LDPE C1-Fair
Natural rubber D-Severe Effect
Neoprene C-Fair
Noryl® A1-Excellent
Nylon B-Good
Polycarbonate B1-Good
Polypropylene C-Fair
Polyurethane A-Excellent
PTFE A-Excellent
PVC B-Good
PVDF (Kynar®) A-Excellent
Santoprene® D-Severe Effect
Silicone A-Excellent
Stainless Steel - 304 B-Good
Stainless Steel - 316 A-Excellent
Tygon® (E-3603) A-Excellent
Viton® A-Excellent

Taken from: http://www.coleparmer.com/Chemical-Resistance

 

[ken dog]

I agree, I will check it out later today... It must be that I jiggled the top gaskets loose while doing the connections.

 

[ken dog]

Before I left this morning, I put another half inch of water in my system after I disconnected my chiller and rerouted the hose around it... I kept the pump running.

I just got home and checked, and the water level is the same as when I left it... That confirms that the chiller was the issue.

 

[ken dog]

For what it's worth, I will replace these two gaskets... And put a little silicone lube on them.
The old ones certainly had some indentations as you can see. Hopefully this will fix the issue.

 

[ken dog]

Coincidence?

 

[ken dog]

Well, they're in the water... We'll see how it goes.:)

 

[timmur]

Yay the party's started!

 

[palm eezy]

What kind of chiller is that?

 

[ken dog]

Hydrofarm Quarter horse power.

 

[ken dog]

Check this out...

 

[ken dog]

The air dryer for the ozone generator came in the mail today... the air entering the ozone generator is dried as it goes through this unit... The media will change color when the media becomes ineffective at removing moisture, and then it's time to recharge or change out the media.

 

[ken dog]

Less than two days of ozone, killed my chiller.

I ordered a new 1/2 horsepower one, and it will be here tomorrow.

My other one was bought used, and I've had it for almost 4 years... the 1/4 size was too small for my current needs anyway, so the upgrade was necessary... although a spare chiller would have been nice.
I did not set out to destroy it, and I was certain that only two days of having the Venturi ahead of the chiller would not hurt it.
I was wrong... and to everyone reading this, consider yourself warned.

 

[timmur]

That really sucks ken. :(

I've read quite a bit of how corrosive ozone can be but I never imagined it would do that that quickly.

 

[ken dog]

Yeah, it's my own fault... I knew better than to put the ozone before the chiller,
but I figured 36 hours was OK until I could get the 20 extra feet of hose to add
for the reaction chamber.

I didn't believe it could happen that quickly myself.