Trying to decide whether to use an Ozone system or Pool Tiger filtration. Any advice?
Ozone water vs Chlorine
- Thread starter hayleesgigi
- Start date
- Status
- May 3, 2014
- 58,675
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Welcome to the forum!
Neither. The Ozone has little effect. You need chlorine. Read Anyone use a Pool Tiger? about the other thing.
www.troublefreepool.com
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry and consider reviewing the entire Pool School eBook.
Neither. The Ozone has little effect. You need chlorine. Read Anyone use a Pool Tiger? about the other thing.
How to Chlorinate Your Pool
Before chlorinating your pool, you should know these simple tips. Learn the best way to add chlorine to your pool.
www.troublefreepool.com
Haylee,
When you go to magic show, or watch one on TV, I'm sure you realize that there is no real magic and it is all an illusion...
Ozone and UV systems are all magic, but without the rabbit...
I second the suggestion that you take a few minutes and read through our Pool Schools and the ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
Thanks for posting and good luck with your new pool,
Jim R.
When you go to magic show, or watch one on TV, I'm sure you realize that there is no real magic and it is all an illusion...
Ozone and UV systems are all magic, but without the rabbit...
I second the suggestion that you take a few minutes and read through our Pool Schools and the ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
Thanks for posting and good luck with your new pool,
Jim R.
Welcome to TFP!
Well at least ozone is real, even if models typically installed in residential pools are usually so under powered as to be worthless. The Tiger is just a psudoscience piece of fluff, like putting magnets on the fuel line of a car.
Ozone cannot be used alone, it is a supplemental oxidizer to be used alongside chlorine. In a public pool with a huge bather load this can be beneficial, but in a residential pool there is not enough bather waste (skin cells, sweat, urine, etc) for it to offer any benefit. For residential pools maintaining an appropriate amount of chlorine in the water is enough to oxidize any bather waste while also maintaining the sanitation of the water.
Well at least ozone is real, even if models typically installed in residential pools are usually so under powered as to be worthless. The Tiger is just a psudoscience piece of fluff, like putting magnets on the fuel line of a car.
Ozone cannot be used alone, it is a supplemental oxidizer to be used alongside chlorine. In a public pool with a huge bather load this can be beneficial, but in a residential pool there is not enough bather waste (skin cells, sweat, urine, etc) for it to offer any benefit. For residential pools maintaining an appropriate amount of chlorine in the water is enough to oxidize any bather waste while also maintaining the sanitation of the water.
Ozone has nothing to do with filtration. Filters do that. No clue what a "Filter Tiger" is, so it most likely isn't worth having.
If you're having a new pool built, have you considered using a Salt Water Chlorine Generator, along with a good large filter?
Maddie
If you're having a new pool built, have you considered using a Salt Water Chlorine Generator, along with a good large filter?
Maddie
I use ozone air filtration in a smelly gym or cars that were smoked in. It works wonders.
Now pool ozone I have too, just an expensive light to change
Now pool ozone I have too, just an expensive light to change
I am new to the forum and I love the debate of ozone. I see a lot of anti-ozone posts on this site. One cannot refute the science of ozone in it's use for sanitation. We can argue about the need and use of it in pools. It depends on you goals. My goal was to minimize the use of chlorine and other chemicals. Ozone fit the bill. I don't know anything about the Tiger filtration, but ozone does have a place in pool chemistry. Whether you choose to adopt it is up to you.
Welcome to the forum!
One cannot refute the use of ozone in water sanitation. One can absolutely refute the many misconceptions regarding its use in pools. First, ozone is used as a supplemental oxidizer. It assists chlorine in breaking down bather waste. It does not sanitize water in the concentrations used in a pool, and that is even with a commercial unit that actually puts out ozone. Residential coronal discharge units are so underpowered you would probably get more ozone blown in to the pool from a lighting strike a mile away than that thing produces in a week. So in a residential pool like yours it is providing a teensy weensy bit of supplemental oxidation, supplemental oxidation that is unnecessary in a residential pool and can be easily handled by chlorine.
While we are on the subject, since the ozone is not providing sanitation it does not minimize the use of chlorine. That's all marketing hype. Chlorine is your only source of sanitation in the pool. I'm sure some consider chlorine to be dangerous, after all that's what the sales pitch said, but exposure to ozone is more dangerous. The levels of ozone that would be required to provide sanitation in a pool would produce enough outgassing to poison the air around the pool. That's why when it is used to sanitize water it is used in sealed tanks in a closed system, not in an open system with people swimming in it. Chlorine, on the other hand, sanitize water at low enough concentrations that it does not pose a hazard. Luckily your ozone system does not pose a hazard because, again, it is not producing enough ozone to do much of anything. If you are using too little chlorine your pool might pose a hazard, but if there is at least some residual in there you are probably mostly fine.
So you are more than welcome to use whatever system you want in your pool, however if you think ozone "fits the bill" of your goals I'm afraid you got played. We aren't anti-ozone in spite of your assumption, it is quite useful as a supplemental oxidizer in commercial pools that see very high bather loads. What we are anti- about is lies and scare mongering. Unfortunately there is very little truth in the sale of ozone systems, because saying "oh yeah, it helps out the chlorine a little bit" doesn't push as many units as "chlorine is a deadly poison". Your pool is full of chemicals, I hear it's largely made up of that dihydrogen monoxide which can kill you the second you inhale it. The point there is that sales tactics omit the important parts, like chlorine is only a deadly poison in extreme gaseous concentrations or that ozone is also a deadly poison.
Anyway, I hope you will hang around and do some reading. We don't play the sales and marketing game, we play the "what does the science support" game.
ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
One cannot refute the use of ozone in water sanitation. One can absolutely refute the many misconceptions regarding its use in pools. First, ozone is used as a supplemental oxidizer. It assists chlorine in breaking down bather waste. It does not sanitize water in the concentrations used in a pool, and that is even with a commercial unit that actually puts out ozone. Residential coronal discharge units are so underpowered you would probably get more ozone blown in to the pool from a lighting strike a mile away than that thing produces in a week. So in a residential pool like yours it is providing a teensy weensy bit of supplemental oxidation, supplemental oxidation that is unnecessary in a residential pool and can be easily handled by chlorine.
While we are on the subject, since the ozone is not providing sanitation it does not minimize the use of chlorine. That's all marketing hype. Chlorine is your only source of sanitation in the pool. I'm sure some consider chlorine to be dangerous, after all that's what the sales pitch said, but exposure to ozone is more dangerous. The levels of ozone that would be required to provide sanitation in a pool would produce enough outgassing to poison the air around the pool. That's why when it is used to sanitize water it is used in sealed tanks in a closed system, not in an open system with people swimming in it. Chlorine, on the other hand, sanitize water at low enough concentrations that it does not pose a hazard. Luckily your ozone system does not pose a hazard because, again, it is not producing enough ozone to do much of anything. If you are using too little chlorine your pool might pose a hazard, but if there is at least some residual in there you are probably mostly fine.
So you are more than welcome to use whatever system you want in your pool, however if you think ozone "fits the bill" of your goals I'm afraid you got played. We aren't anti-ozone in spite of your assumption, it is quite useful as a supplemental oxidizer in commercial pools that see very high bather loads. What we are anti- about is lies and scare mongering. Unfortunately there is very little truth in the sale of ozone systems, because saying "oh yeah, it helps out the chlorine a little bit" doesn't push as many units as "chlorine is a deadly poison". Your pool is full of chemicals, I hear it's largely made up of that dihydrogen monoxide which can kill you the second you inhale it. The point there is that sales tactics omit the important parts, like chlorine is only a deadly poison in extreme gaseous concentrations or that ozone is also a deadly poison.
Anyway, I hope you will hang around and do some reading. We don't play the sales and marketing game, we play the "what does the science support" game.
ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
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Correct we can not refute its use for sanitation. There is none.
The EPA has three approved disinfection alternatives for pools:
Chlorine
Bromine
Baquicil/biguanide/PHMB
There are no others, simple science
Just as expected.... The EPA list only includes pesticides. You can also find chlorine listed on the EPA as an Extremely Hazardous Substance (EHS). Does that mean it shouldn't be used? Oxidation does not fit in this category (pesticide), so it is therefore not recognized. It is however recognized by the World Health Organization. Hopefully, no one looking at advanced oxidation processes is looking at just manufacturer sales jargon. No one had to "sell" me on this.
What we are starting to understand are the shortcomings of traditional pool sanitation. The CDC's Model Aquatic Health Code is geared toward public pools, but the science is the same. Add respiratory issues and cryptosporidium to the mix and new technology can have value. I'm not saying chlorine only doesn't work for the average pool owner. I am suggesting that there may be better ways than the way it's always been done. Now is this "over kill"? Arguably, but how much kill is too much? How many chemicals are too much? What about families with respiratory illness? What about children with chemical sensitivities?
There is enough science out there for people to make there own decision. Technology advances. I used to drink from a water hose....
What we are starting to understand are the shortcomings of traditional pool sanitation. The CDC's Model Aquatic Health Code is geared toward public pools, but the science is the same. Add respiratory issues and cryptosporidium to the mix and new technology can have value. I'm not saying chlorine only doesn't work for the average pool owner. I am suggesting that there may be better ways than the way it's always been done. Now is this "over kill"? Arguably, but how much kill is too much? How many chemicals are too much? What about families with respiratory illness? What about children with chemical sensitivities?
There is enough science out there for people to make there own decision. Technology advances. I used to drink from a water hose....
Ah yes, the answer to someone with respiratory problems is to expose them to ozone, a significant respiratory irritant. 
The WHO, by the way, only considers ozone in conjunction with chlorine because ozone provides no sanitation. they also accept just chlorine, so seems the ozone is superfluous. One thing the WHO does consider ozone to be is an ambient air pollutant? They list it right up there with sulfur dioxide, in fact. High praise!
Alright, if you really want to do this you will need to provide some data. Real data. Meaning nothing from anybody that manufactures, sells, or maintains one of these systems. Also nothing that is about wastewater treatment. If you want us to take you seriously then you must provide scientifically sound data about using ozone in pool water.
EDIT: And just to add, don't act like ozone is some new technology. As Dave says below, it's been around a long time. The units are exactly the same as they have always been, and the chemical is still O3, like it has always been. It's as old as chlorine. There's nothing new here, no matter how much you want to believe you are defending the cutting edge of water management.
The WHO, by the way, only considers ozone in conjunction with chlorine because ozone provides no sanitation. they also accept just chlorine, so seems the ozone is superfluous. One thing the WHO does consider ozone to be is an ambient air pollutant? They list it right up there with sulfur dioxide, in fact. High praise!
Alright, if you really want to do this you will need to provide some data. Real data. Meaning nothing from anybody that manufactures, sells, or maintains one of these systems. Also nothing that is about wastewater treatment. If you want us to take you seriously then you must provide scientifically sound data about using ozone in pool water.
EDIT: And just to add, don't act like ozone is some new technology. As Dave says below, it's been around a long time. The units are exactly the same as they have always been, and the chemical is still O3, like it has always been. It's as old as chlorine. There's nothing new here, no matter how much you want to believe you are defending the cutting edge of water management.
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This is not an Arguing forum. This is a teaching forum. The debate about ozone's usefulness was satisfied on this forum over 10 years ago.
We teach that ozone provides no particular benefit to a residential pool. Please don't beat a dead horse
We teach that ozone provides no particular benefit to a residential pool. Please don't beat a dead horse
I love my ozoneator we use it in gyms with boxing and rolling and removing cig smell from cars. In pool no, I have one waste of money and we don’t replace lightbulb.
Obviously what at we teach is very different from what you believe.
We base our pool care system on accurate testing and only adding what the pool needs, when it needs it. To do that we advocate that every pool owner buy and use an accurate test kit.
Throughout TFP, you will read that we suggest certain levels that good science and practical experience has taught us fall within safe ranges.
Further reading of posts here will draw you to the inescapable conclusion that these guidelines work.......in thousands and thousands of pools worldwide. Our goal is to teach pool owners what has been proven to work time and time again and then let them use that information to their benefit.
You may or may not agree with what we teach, nor choose to advocate these methods, that is your choice.
Contrary to what many believe, TFP does not exist to discuss ALL methods of pool care, but a singular method that has come to be known as Trouble Free Pool care. It involves accurate self testing of your pool water and only adding what the pool needs. We want pool owners to understand that "traditional" methods of pool care as taught by many pool stores are often adding things to your pool that you really don't need. From CYA in stabilized pool products to the UV and ozone in the "lower chlorine" methods we feel you don't want or need them.
We are not here to discuss other methods like natural pool care and other methods like Baqua or Bromine are discussed, but we try to explain that TFP methods are easier and less expensive.
I guess it just comes down to the fact that as one person said in frustration because we didn't agree to give up chlorine that TFP is nothing but a chlorine forum. In a way, I guess we are.........
With that being said, and the fact the original poster has not returned, this thread is closed.
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