Ozotech IQ20 air dryer

[Fishbulb2]

Hi Everyone,

I finally broke down and bought one of these as I have no desire to bake drierite constantly. I live in the swamp (DC) so this seemed like an easier way to go. For those that own this, I see that it has holes in the back for mounting. Is it safe to mount on drywall, or would it get so hot as to create a fire hazard?

Thanks,
FB

[mcgyvr]

Read the manual..
See bullet point #3
https://s3.amazonaws.com/brsinstruct...ryer-units.pdf

[Fishbulb2]

What kind of wall? Industrial or just drywall? I don't really want to burn down my house for an aquarium.

[mcgyvr]

If it had specific requirements for a cement wall or whatever it would say so..
Its mountable on anything but a Chocolate covered wall

[Fishbulb2]

Nuts. We have a chocolate house.

Seems fine. I mounted it and it doesn't seem to get too hot. It should be fine. Kicking myself for not getting this ages ago.

FB

[d2mini]

Quick question if you don't mind, since you obviously have ozone experience.
I had been running mine on a timer for just a few hours in the morning.
My orp is notoriously low without ozone (around 200 or even less). Been going easy and keeping it under 300 with the ozone. An Ozotech 220 unit from BRS. With their desiccant air dryer.
Tonite I decided I would try really cranking it and see if I could get it up to 400.
It shot up to around 380 in about an hour and then it started to plummet.
It's down to 255 and holding right now.
Any idea why?

[Fishbulb2]

No, I'm not sure why. But I don't think raising it quickly will be useful anyways. My suspicion is that the probe needs a while to adapt also. What I do is set it to come up for about 2-3 minutes every half hour and turn off if the ORP rises to 400. I just slowly ramped up to this starting with 1 minute every hour to 1 minute every 3o minutes, etc. Now I'm at about 2 minutes every 15 minutes and it's around 400 mV. But just ramp up very slowly and I think everything will be both more stable and accurate. Instead of running it all at once in the morning, I would just divide up the dose as best you can over the day and just slowly adjust the total dose.

FB

[d2mini]

Just out of curiosity I let it run over night.
I can see by my controller's graph that it just had a steady and slow rise to 269.
And i have the dial at 10.
I don't get it. And the unit is only 7 months old with light use.

[Fishbulb2]

Are you using an air dryer? The efficiency and the units life decrease with humidity.

As long as the ORP doesn't rise too high, you should pretty much be getting all of the benefits of ozone. Some folks run it 24/7 and never reach 400mV, which is fine. I use 2 minutes every 30 minutes and that's really all i need to keep the tank clear. And I'd be afraid that if I ran it more, the desiccant likely wouldn't keep up where I live.

FB

[d2mini]

Yup, just the canister one from brs with desiccant.

[Fishbulb2]

That should be fine. Just make sure it's not completely wet before you recharge it.

I think the deal is basically just how the tank is doing and what you really want to get out of the ozone. If the tank is fine and you are happy with how everything looks, then I just wouldn't worry about the ORP at all. Just run the ozone as you have been and just don't worry about it.

If you feel like there is something else wrong with the tank (like I'm fighting cyano now), then you can work towards trouble shooting the ORP. I've had high quality carbon (ROX) really shoot up my ORP so you might try refreshing your carbon or switching brands to help bring it up. I also know some salt mixes respond differently to ozone. I use IO as it's just the easiest to get around here. At some point, I just have a feeling that cranking up the ozone isn't going to help you anymore. If you are really drying the air and having the unit set to max, then that's probably all you are going to get out of it. The other think you could try is to get a reference solution to test your probe. I understand they are not really easy to calibrate, but you might at least be able to convince yourself that it's at least accurate.

FB

[VanJuKy]

Originally Posted by Fishbulb2

Hi Everyone,

I finally broke down and bought one of these as I have no desire to bake drierite constantly. I live in the swamp (DC) so this seemed like an easier way to go. For those that own this, I see that it has holes in the back for mounting. Is it safe to mount on drywall, or would it get so hot as to create a fire hazard?

Thanks,
FB

I just bought one too. Are you using it with a skimmer or reactor?

[Fishbulb2]

Originally Posted by VanJuKy

I just bought one too. Are you using it with a skimmer or reactor?

I'm dosing through a skimmer.

[d2mini]

FYI, I dried my desiccant again (it was bout time) and tried 30 mins on, 30 off and now it's working great.
Maybe the generator overheats or something?
Anyway, thanks for the on/off suggestion.

[Fishbulb2]

Interesting. I don't know why the would be. Maybe the O3+ itself interferes with the probe, and you get more accurate readings one the ozone has dissipated? Not sure, but glad it seems to be working better!

FB

[VanJuKy]

I am really confused how to hook this up. I am using the Ozotech IQ20 Dryer, an Ozotech 220 ozonizer and an Octopus OR150 reactor. The IQ-20 needs a vacuum to pull the air through. All the pumps I see work on pressure. How do I pull the air through the dryer into the ozonizer and out to the reactor? Do I need to put a venturi on the inlet of the reactor?? I think I cant see the forest through the trees here...

[Fishbulb2]

You got it. That is the achilles heel of the whole ozotech approach with the IQ20. I understand why they had to design it this way, but it makes it peculiarly unsuitable for the aquarium industry.

I use mine on a skimmer, but my skimmer has two air ports, one for air and one for ozone. So the it won't draw air from the IQ20 without a vacuum pump to assist it.

I bought this pump based on another thread. HYDROFARM AAPA45L Commercial Pond Air Pump 6 Outlet 45 LPM Hydroponics Aquarium which you can find online. It is way overkill for our application and will be drawing way too much air through the IQ20. I doubt the desiccant will stay dry for long between heatings and I doubt the air will dry well if it's going through the desiccant so quickly.

So I modified a regular air pump. I just removed the filter intake and screwed in a male barb adapter. I opened up the pump and silicone sealed any other path for air to enter the pump. This took about 10 minutes to do and over night to cure. I think tested it with an air meter and all the air is passing through my new barb intake.

You'll need a pressure pump for a reactor. So I would mod a luft pump to do something similar. If I had more time, I would 3D print an adaptor for my luft pump and use that.

FB

[Fishbulb2]

Let's see if I can post a pic.

[VanJuKy]

I received this back from Ozotech this morning.

"When using an air pump with this system you should connect the outlet of the desiccant air drier to the inlet of the air pump and the out let of the air pump to the inlet of the ozone generator. And do not allow the pumping pressure to be any greater than 2 PSI."

I will look for the quietest pump I can find and do the same thing you said. The Ehiem pumps are supposed to be very quiet. Even have a built in hook for hanging. I might glue a piece of acrylic with a barbed fitting over the intake of the pump (which is on the underside and about the size of a coin) . I will post a pic when done. I will then put a small regulator. as well as a gauge, on the output so that I keep within 2PSI.

[Fishbulb2]

Nice. I would love to see the final product. Please do post back.

I wonder why they want a max of 2PSI vacuum? Surely it wouldn't collapse with more than just 2 PSI? That's pretty weak.

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by VanJuKy

I received this back from Ozotech this morning.

"When using an air pump with this system you should connect the outlet of the desiccant air drier to the inlet of the air pump and the out let of the air pump to the inlet of the ozone generator. And do not allow the pumping pressure to be any greater than 2 PSI."

I will look for the quietest pump I can find and do the same thing you said. The Ehiem pumps are supposed to be very quiet. Even have a built in hook for hanging. I might glue a piece of acrylic with a barbed fitting over the intake of the pump (which is on the underside and about the size of a coin) . I will post a pic when done. I will then put a small regulator. as well as a gauge, on the output so that I keep within 2PSI.

My air pumps don't have inlet ports.
Just a dime sized hole underneath with some kind of white filter membrane.

[Fishbulb2]

Yeah, that dime size hole is what I retro fitted with a barbed fitting. Virtually no air pumps in the hobby have an inlet fitting, which is a slight shame.

[VanJuKy]

Originally Posted by d2mini

My air pumps don't have inlet ports.
Just a dime sized hole underneath with some kind of white filter membrane.

Yes, that's exactly what I was referencing. I thought about covering it up with a piece of plastic with a hole drilled for a barbed fitting.

Originally Posted by Fishbulb2

Yeah, that dime size hole is what I retro fitted with a barbed fitting. Virtually no air pumps in the hobby have an inlet fitting, which is a slight shame.

It will be easier if I don't have to glue plastic. I will bring one home tomorrow and take it apart. See what might work for my application.

[jsousa]

I know this is an older thread but this is the pump you should use with that setup. It is what was recommended by Ozotech and what I use.

http://www.aquariumspecialty.com/ali...acuum-air-pump