Is ozone from an ozonizer safe to breath?

[wnfaknd]

is it?
can you keep one of those units running in your living room without any health risk?
ozone after all is unhealthy.

 

[Big R]

Prolonged direct breathing of ozone can harm you.

R

 

[wnfaknd]

how direct? and for how long? and how does it harm us and what part of us gets harmed?

 

[randy holmes-farley]

It oxidizes tissues, like the inside of your lungs. I'd never use one inside without something to trap the ozone before it got out into breathable air.

 

[wnfaknd]

i take it carbon would take care of ozone huh?
how much carbon and every how often should the carbon be replaces?

 

[JohnL]

Here is some info from the Ozone King, A. Theil

http://acmepet.petsmart.com/fish/mfira/13.html

 

[DKKA]

What I got out of the Theil link is that it is very unstable and breaks down very quickly. So it is unlikely it would cause you any problems unless you found a way to produce and inhale large amounts.

FWIW, my Spa salesman told me it breaks down and becomes harmless within miliseconds of being exposed to the air....but then maybe he was just trying to sell me a hottub with an ozonizer. (yes, I bought it!)
Dan

 

[Anonymous]

Any amount that you can smell can do significant oxidative damage. Ozone is very dangerous to your lungs and eyes and respiratory passages, even at very low concentrations. Used properly, an ozonizer should be safe. However, they can be a fire hazard if they malfunction, in addition to being a health hazard. Personally, I would never use one for these reasons, even if they were good for the aquarium. Many people (including me) believe even a properly functioning system does more harm than good.

 

[Mark420]

Hey DKK, Thats funny, I'm a pool guy and am around ozone all the time we use it for spa's and pools, as far as know it can be dangerous but, it needs to be in larger amounts. I've done inside pools with BIG ozone units,they even have air pumps on them, anways these are safe.
I've been told to run carbon in a top container on the skim. Yes I use ozone

 

[wnfaknd]

well, i inhaled some air coming out of the skimmers top (there is an ozonizer working with the skimmer) and a while later i wasnt feeling too good. It felt weird when i breathe deep and my eyes sorta bothered me.
Dont know if its the ozone or if i got one of "those" letters in the mail. I rather hope its the ozone... hehehehe.

Is there permanent damage to the body or does it go away after a while?

 

[davelin315]

Inhaling the air coming out of your skimmer is just a step down from drinking the skimmate with a straw. There's some nasty stuff in there being not only skimmed but also released from the water as you agitate and aerate it. That's probably the reason you didn't feel good. Sounds like when I blew out a tube on a homemade tank polishing filter after it sat for an hour after being used. I almost threw up and was sick for hours after wards with a splitting headache due to the stuff I filtered out decaying very quickly.