Ozone in your pond

Ozone sounds familiar to most people. From the ozone layer or from the smell created by some printers. What many people do not know, however, is that ozone can also be used very well for cleaning water. It has been used for years in the treatment of drinking water to replace chlorine. It is also increasingly used in swimming pools because chlorine can cause skin and respiratory irritations.

In recent years, ozone systems are also increasingly used in fish farms, zoos and koi ponds. Their use is a very good addition to your existing filtration system. An ozone system will never have the capacity to function as a main filter, therefore a good biological filter will always remain necessary.

What is ozone?

Oxygen consists of 2 oxygen atoms (O2). Ozone consists of 3 oxygen atoms (O3) and is produced from oxygen. The conversion can be done in 2 ways, by low wavelength UV light or by high voltage. The last mentioned option is the most commonly used method because the maximum achievable ozone concentration is much higher than when using UV and the power consumption per gram of ozone produced is also much lower. It is very unstable and will want to get rid of 1 oxygen atom as quickly as possible in order to fall back to ordinary oxygen.

Ozone in koi ponds

Ozone is used to remove difficult-to-remove substances from water. Examples include dyes, nitrite, drug residues and pheromones. However, it also kills bacteria, parasites and viruses much more effectively than a UV filter. However, it only reacts with substances, parasites, bacteria, etc. that pass through the reactor vessel. So it will not affect the good bacteria that are in your filter. After the ozone system has done its job, only pure oxygen remains! The use of ozone will lower parasite and bacterial pressure, thus reducing the chance of disease. Keep in mind, however, that an ozone system can never be considered a filter in itself, always a good biological filter remains necessary. The use of ozone is only a good addition to the existing filter capacity.

Caution! If used incorrectly, Ozone is dangerous (both to humans and to your fish), so be well advised before purchasing an ozone system!