Hey! Wondering if anyone here has used any kind of ozone system for sanitizing your grow. The wine/grape industry has been using the technology for years, but I’ve only heard about a few growers utilizing it. Have you tried it? What were the results?
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It’s an aggressive oxidizer. If you use it during curing it will kill the potency of your flower.
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it is undependable, and very expensive to maintain. That is just my experience using ozone for water treatment.
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Can I ask who manufactured the equipment?
Clairtech or their Brand name Clearwater Tech is who I’ve used in the past. We built a Iron Filter with Ozone generator several years back. It was way overkill for most of the apps on the residental side. The cost to maintain it was a little too steep for the average consumer. H2O2 injection worked just as well at a margin of the cost of ozone.
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Cool. Thanks for the info!
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I have used one at more than one operation. In one case it was only used at the end of the process as an additional sterilization method between rounds and after the use of harvest spaces.
In another case it was used during the grow through the entire cycle [besides the nursery].
I have not found a benefit in using it in my water [in hydroponic or otherwise] and it can come with expense and health risk. Health risk is a big factor. Do not ever run the device with employees present. Be mindful that many regulations surround the use of this specific device and you will need to make sure you follow them [and any lack of doing so is a lawsuit, fine, or other measure waiting to happen]. I only turned it on at the end of the day as the lights turned off [and all employees were exiting the building. Once turned on, no employee was allowed back in the building but myself]. You will recognize that it is still in the air if you smell what would be described as a ‘thunderstorm and fresh rain’ [and at higher concentrations it will stick to your clothing and leave with you].
If you have the lights running while the device is running, or the device produces too much ozone for the space, it will cause major damage to the plants [and easily kill them or might as well]. The symptoms at a lower level will appear as burn and curling.
At the end of that experiment I found no benefit in using the ozone, discontinued its use during the cycle, and only used it as the last step in the cleaning process in empty spaces. I am not sure how effective doing so really was but my partner insisted. I think the real benefit to using ozone in an empty space is that it will harm any tiny insects hiding in the cracks [but there is no guarantee]. If it is as effective on mold spores as advertised [which it is so as long as air flow in the room is stopped at the time of its use] it is not at a level acceptable to plant health.
Further, it will harm the flavor and smell of your plants if used near the end of flower. However, it did not harm my lab results in any way used up until the last 14 days [I never used it further than that].
I agree with TheWaterGuy, H202 is a much better option and can be had by the barrel in food grade form [and high concentration] without added preservatives. Just be careful handling quantities of H202 and know that it can explode. So storage is important and follow every rule and regulation and then some. Personally, my hands are pretty tough from digging holes with them and what not so if I get a few drops on them it just turns white and flakes off but for most people it looks miserable. So anyone handling it [or pumping it out of the barrel] needs to be very careful and wear protective clothing, gloves, a full mask, and boots, etc [they usually come with manual hand pumps and the barrel needs to be raised above the container as it fills - I keep old H202 bottles and refill them and make sure they are labeled properly].
H202 is also commonly applied to the ‘main line’ [to greenhouses, etc] by means of a regulated injector.
H202 also has many more functions at the farm. For sterilization I prefer alcohol, common bleach, H202, reverse polarity runoff, and at times beneficial bacteria [such as LAB]. So H202 having several more functions increases its value to me.
If you would like I can put you in touch with my friend Roman who owns the IP and production of a specific plasma device that is capable of maintaining pH automatically, removes pathogens from the water, pulls beneficial substances from the air [N fixing for example], and is designed to be used directly in the plumbing [closed loop or recirculating] which makes it a wanted device but it is not cheap either. It may or may not be best practice for highly organic based programs but in my review of the technology I do note that the impact wouldn’t be likely more harmful [and thus may be beneficial] then the practice of using ‘OHN’ in KNF.
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Thanks for sharing!
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