[Packer Lakerfan4]

I was thinking about getting a UV sterilizer and i was told an ozonier was a better route to go would this be a good thing to start with?

Red Sea AquaZone 50 mg/hr Ozonizer with Air Dryer - (eBay item 320186632657 end time Nov-30-07 14:33:14 PST)

[Jasonanatal]

Ozone versus Ultraviolet Sterilization

Both Ozone and Ultraviolet Sterilization have strengths and weaknesses. I personally choose to go with Ultraviolet Sterilization because it is much safer in my personal opinion. Water pulled from you aquarium via a powerhead runs through the Ultraviolet Sterilization chamber and bombarded with Ultraviolet Light running 24/7. Depending on the wattage, flow rate and over total water volume of your Aquarium results vary. (I personally have a 25 watt Ultraviolet Sterilizer on a 28 gallon system with water being exposed at 300 gph, in my opinion nothing really should survive once being exposed with my setup). However, Ultraviolet Sterilization only will kill parasites and free floating algea that is exposed through the chamber). Ozone on the other hand can not only kill parasites within the water column but it can clear up the yellow coloring of water that is usually viewed on established Aquariums and is dosed using a regulater. However, Ozone if overdosed by miscalculation or regulator malfunction will results in all of your aquarium inhabitants or at least a 90% population being exterminated (some public aquariums have managed to kill sharks by overdosing Ozone into their Aquariums).

The choice is your but I would rather play it safe and raise my electric bill a few dollars a month then eradicat the very creatures I'm trying to raise.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

99.9 % of ozonizer failures happan when people fail to clean the plates.100 % of the time this causes less ozone to be made.The unit you are looking at is very minimul for your tank and at full speed I doubt it could produce enough ozone to kill the tank.I didnt see an orp monitor in that pic so you will need one of those.Just keep the monitor clean.I would also point out that if we worried about all the things that could go wrong in a reef aquarium we would never start one.

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by Packer Lakerfan4

I was thinking about getting a UV sterilizer and i was told an ozonier was a better route to go would this be a good thing to start with?

Red Sea AquaZone 50 mg/hr Ozonizer with Air Dryer - (eBay item 320186632657 end time Nov-30-07 14:33:14 PST)

Before you start dosing Ozone I would like you to tell us the set up you are going to use.

Also tell us what you are currently testing for and what you will need to be testing for while dosing ozone. How are you going to introduce Ozone into your tank? Are you currently running C ?

For something as serious as Ozone I think it is necessary for you to fully understand what you are doing and not just rely on the answers here at RB IMO.

[Jasonanatal]

Originally Posted by jimw369

For something as serious as Ozone I think it is necessary for you to fully understand what you are doing and not just rely on the answers here at RB IMO.

Jimw369, you are absoutely correct in that statement. Forums are a great way to gather OPINIONS and INFRMATION from other Reef Aquarist and in my personal opinion as in Jim's fully understanding how something works, how it integrates into our Aquariums, what are the benefits/drawbacks and basically the most important fact of paying attention to detail will allow you to make appropriate decisions for the well being of the livestock you are caring for.

[pogodzib]

I'm a big advocate for using ozone instead of a UV sterilizer because of the extra benefits that it can provide if used properly, but you need to make sure that everything is set up properly and you have ozone resistant equipment that can handle the ozone.

Make sure that you read up full on ozone before jumping into using it. A good place to start is by reading the 3 part article in the March-May 2006 issues of Reefkeeping magazine. Here's a link.
2006 Monthly Index - Reefkeeping Magazine