dustin_P74
Reef enthusiast
what is it and why is it important to measure.
Orp
- Thread starter dustin_P74
- Start date
SSalty
Team Liquid Force
ORP is Oxidation Reduction Potential. All I know is that a saltwater tank requires a positive ORP of something like 400. I personally wouldn't worry about ORP.
dustin_P74
Reef enthusiast
im not worried about it, but i always see controllers say they can monitor it and i have also seen alot of people on RC post it as one of there parameters
daugherty
part time reefer
you use or[ moniters when you run ozone i think it is a must with ozone
ccCapt
Reef Hacker
You only need to worry about ORP when running ozone. An ORP controller will turn the ozone generator on/off at the set limits. When I ran ozone, I had it set to turn the ozone generator on at 375 and shut it off at 400. I still have my Milwaukie ORP controller, but since I don't run ozone anymore, I don't have it hooked up.
If you run ozone, do not do it without a controller.
If you run ozone, do not do it without a controller.
Oscarsdad608
Reef enthusiast
ccCapt why did you stop ozone? I have heard running it has great bennies. I was thinking about it but I can't run it in the winter so I didn't think it was worth it.
ccCapt
Reef Hacker
I didn't have good results, in fact I lost a few corals from bleaching.
Ozone is deadly...to fish, inverts and humans. I bought an Enaly 300mg/hr ozone generate from my LFS (which is about 1 hr away). I knew 300 mg/hr was probably too much for a 75g tank, but I figured the ORP controller would keep everything in line.
Well what was happening was the controller would shut down the o3 generator, but I think the 300 mg/hr was just too much and the ORP would keep rising...sometimes to around 500 mV. I think this caused the bleaching that killed some corals in my tank.
When you run ozone, you must run the output water thru carbon to remove any residual o3 or acids from the water. That was sort of a hassle. The generator kept breaking too. It would work for about 2-3 months and then not produce any o3. The LFS always replaced it, but I went thru 4 before I gave up on them.
I think if I bought the right size generator I may not have had any problems, but everything ended up being a hassle...and I like to keep it simple.
Making sure all output water went thru carbon...hassle
Carbon over air output of reactor (to remove residual o3 from releasing into the house)...hassle
Controlling amount of air going into generator...hassle
Recharging air dryer for o3 generator...hassle.
Why can't you run it in the winter? Time of year has no affect on anything regarding running o3. If anything, winter is probably better since the air is usually drier and the air dryer won't need to be recharged as often.
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Oscarsdad608
Reef enthusiast
I have heard even if you run through carbon the ozone can still have bad effects. So most of the people local only run it when they can open up a window. Sounds like it more trouble then it's worth. I was thinking of going bare bottom and running ozone, but that is all out the door now. I have a giant skimmer anyway so I don't really need the ozone.
