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The role of ozone in hydroponic cultivation

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doris zhang
The role of ozone in hydroponic cultivation

Ozone has many applications including food and water sterilization and removing pollutants from the air at the molecular level.Some gardeners even use high levels of ozone to exterminate indoor garden pests.

Ozone generators neutralize odors by converting oxygen into ozone by exposing the stinky air to ultraviolet light.The extra molecule is always a positively charged ion that is predisposed to attach to a negatively charged ion.Pollutants are negatively charged cations.When the extra oxygen ion attaches to the cation,they neutralize one another.Once the extra molecule is shed,ozone is converted back into oxygen.The chemistry takes a minute or longer to occur,so treated air must be held in a chamber to be converted effectively.

Ozone has an unusual odor similar to the smell of the air after a good rain.Anybody who has ever smelled the air in a room recently treated with ozone knows the smell and will never forget it.Make sure not to produce too much ozone,and give it enough time to mix with smelly air to neutralize odros grow lights.

There are many ozone generators available.When shopping for an ozone generator,look for one that has been on the market for a few years and has an established track record.Watch for important features such as self-cleaning (or easy to clean) and easy,safe bulb replacement.When UV light encounters moisture in the air,nitric acid is produced as a by-product.This white,powdery nitric acid collects around the lamps at connection points.This is an unpleasant,very corrosive acid that will severely burn skin and eyes.Verify that the ozone generator has proper safety features built in,such as a switch that turns off the lamp for maintenance,making it impossible to look at the reina-searing UV rays.Legal exposure for humans is about 0.1 ppm for a maximum of eight hours.Most indoor garden ozone generators produce about 0.05 ppm at timed intervals.See below for plant symptoms of ozone overdose.

UV light is very dangerous.In a flash,intense UV light can burn your skin and the retinas in your eyes beyond repair.Never,under any circumstances,look at the UV lamp in an ozone generator.Sneaking a peek at a UV lamp in an ozone generator has cost more than one aspiring gardener their eyesight!Ozone is also capable of burning your lungs.At low levels,there is no damage, but at higher levels,danger is imminent.Never,never use too much!

Ozone generators are rated by the number of cubic feet they are able to treat.Some gardeners set up the ozone generator in the indoor garden and let it treat all the air in the room.They add a timer so the ozone generator intermittently disperses ozone into the room to maintain a relatively constant level.Once generated,ozone has a life of about 30 minutes.It takes a minute or two for the Ozone molecules to combine with oxygen to neutralize odors.

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