Pinpoint ORP Controller

[CrazieEddie]

I was looking at this and was wondering what ORP stands for? I was looking at the description and saw
Automate Ozone control in the aquarium
Sorry if this is a stupid question, but does it create like an ozone environment? How is this beneficial to a marine tank?

[AquariumPro]

Ah sigh! OK: I now have to state this when I answer an ORP question so I don't get tons of emails expounding on and criticizing my explanations as I did when I first answered such a question back in 1998 and thereafter. If you are a chemist or an advanced aquarist reading this post weeks, months or years from now, please understand that I am trying to explain a complex subject in very simple layman's terms. I am fully aware there are entire books devoted to this subject which detail oxidation/reduction in far more detail and I know I'm leaving out a lot of information . . . Don't email me!

ORP stands for Oxidation-Reduction Potential, which in (very) simplistic terms may be described as the potential ability of water to cleanse itself. H2O is a bi-polar molecule, which is positive on one side and negative on the other and therefore has the ability to oxidize or reduce any molecule on earth, given enough time of course. Water is also called the universal solvent for this reason and is unique in this repect. If you were to place a diamond in water, several billion years from now, the diamond would have dissolved. That's how powerful the oxidation/reduction properties of water are. If we stopped polluting all water on earth, eventually it would clean itself up.

An ORP meter or controller measures the available negative and postive charges in water in millivolts. The greater the elctrical charge available, the higher the ORP reading. An ideal ORP of a nice stable clean aquarium is usually between 350 and 450 millivolts.

The ORP level depends on how many molecules are being reduced or oxidized by water, and are therefore attached to H2O molecules. The dirtier water is, the more molecules it contains which are tying up either the positive or negative sides of the water molecules, lowering the water's ability to oxidize or reduce more pollutants, and therefore ORP drops. if you do a water change, or use ozone to break down those pollutants, ORP increases. An ozoznizer (or ozonator - same thing) frees up the water molecules by oxidizing pollutants. Ozone is O3 which is unstable and releases oxygen radicals O(-2) which destroy pollutants through oxidation. An ORP controller measures ORP and turns on an ozonizer when the ORP falls below a set ORP value (set by the hobbyist). The ozone cleans up the water, ORP rises, and eventually the controller turns off the ozonizer.

I think in the last five years, I've probably explained this many times over, so those answers are also kicking around this website in various places. A simplified but excellent explanation of ORP may be found in our FAQ (actually several FAQ), and also in our articles.

http://aquariumpros.com/faqpro/
http://aquariumpros.com/articles/

There are also probably at least a few posts regarding ORP in these forums. It's a long explanation, so please do a search in our FAQ and also do a site search.

[CrazieEddie]

Thanks.

WHen I did do a search on ORP, all I got was ORP meters or pages with words like absorption. Anyway, this explains a lot.


I'm no chemist, but glad I did well in class. :LOL

Thanks.