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Bob

I'm wondering about using either an ozone generator or a UV system to help me keep on top of potential disease.  Which would you use and what are the benefits of either.  If I get an ozone generator do I need a controller for it?  Please help it's all so confusing.  Thanks.

James Wilson, Bath 

This will have to be a greatly foreshortened explanation to what could be a very long explanation James. Both types of water filtration gear will indirectly help w/ reducing the pathogenicity of disease causing organisms'¦ through improvement in water quality. 'Some' well-engineered ultraviolet sterilizers that are fitted with proper flow rates are able to 'zap' small organisms (bacteria, fungi, perhaps some Protozoans) sufficiently to kill them outright; all do some good in producing ozone (O3) to a degree. There are Ozonizers (ozone generators) that are actually ultraviolet lamps, though most in our interest are corona discharge types.

            Ozone generation by itself is a great sanitizer of water, increasing dissolved oxygen, increasing RedOx, helping to resist acidification and all its related downsides (unavailability of alkalinity, alkaline earth materials'¦ i.e. Calcium, Magnesium, Strontium'¦). This technology is such a boon that there are NO commercial aquariums, marine livestock wholesalers, or aquaculture facilities of size that I've been to that don't employ it. In fact, given the choice of UV or Ozone, not only would I take the latter, but the next choice would be a desiccator (to dry out the air going into the Ozonizer) than a UV in turn.

            Rest assured, you are not alone in your confusion. The variation in the utility of this gear, its appropriate application, and attendant possible beneficial effects are subject to a myriad of interpretation. Both will help in a few ways, but Ozone is my greatly preferred (over UV) adjunct to an otherwise well-filtered system.