Could really use some help with UV plumbing

[Eclyps19]

Hello all! I'm battling dinos in my Reefer 525 XL, so I broke down and purchased an Aqua UV 57w. I have a few days before it comes, but I've got some serious anxiety about plumbing this thing... My sump is about 100% stock right now, nothing new is hard plumbed, so I have plenty of room to work with.

The UV itself is ~21" long, which should fit in my sump. Due to the location of the tank, I'd prefer not to have it outside of the tank, but I could probably make something work if needed.

So, questions!

1. Most configurations that I've seen on here are hard plumbed. Any reason for that? I'm definitely not opposed to hard-plumbing it, but it seems like connecting it with soft tubing gives me more options for placement (though it may not look as nice).
2. Placement of the pump as well as the returned water after it's gone through the UV. I assume that the pump should be somewhere closer to where the water is coming into the sump to ensure that I'm capturing new water instead of in the back corner where there might be less flow. Should I just spit the water back out somewhere else in the sump? Is it better to spit it out closer to my return pump to ensure that it goes back into the display rather than getting sucked back in for another round of UV?
3. Regardless of my placement of the UV, what's the best way to secure something like this within the sump cabinet? I guess hard-plumbing it would give me some more structure, but I would still want to secure it in place somewhere, right?
4. The pump itself, my tank has about 140g. I assume a Sicce Syncra Silent 2.0 pump would be usable for the UV, with a max GPH of 568. I know that this is adjustable, so hopefully I can dial it to the appropriate flow even if I have to pump the water up a couple feet.

Here are some crude illustrations of ideas that I had about placement. It looks like I won't be able to submerge any part of the UV, so the drawing with it vertically in the corner might need to be moved into the other side where the storage cabinet is... darn. All that drawing for nothing!

Any feedback, advice, opinions, etc you can provide would be super appreciated. I feel like I'm in over my head here, but really want to get this running soon. Thank you!!!

 

[malacoda]

So, questions!

1. Most configurations that I've seen on here are hard plumbed. Any reason for that? I'm definitely not opposed to hard-plumbing it, but it seems like connecting it with soft tubing gives me more options for placement (though it may not look as nice). It's really just a matter of choice. If you're comfortable in using hose clamps with soft plumbing, it will be easier to plumb in. Some folks just like the 'less leak risk' of hard plumbing.
2. Placement of the pump as well as the returned water after it's gone through the UV. I assume that the pump should be somewhere closer to where the water is coming into the sump to ensure that I'm capturing new water instead of in the back corner where there might be less flow. Should I just spit the water back out somewhere else in the sump? Is it better to spit it out closer to my return pump to ensure that it goes back into the display rather than getting sucked back in for another round of UV? If you run the output of the UV directly to the DT, you can take water from anywhere in the sump as input ... because that water will continually be replaced by water from other areas of the sump and therefore never be 'un-circulated'. If you are drawing water from the sump then returning the water to the sump, it is best to draw from where water enters the sump and return it to the return pump chamber. That way the water enters the sump, passes thru UV, then passes thru the return pump to the display. If you draw near the return pump and return it to the front to the sump you will essentially just be continually sterilizing sump water instead of sending the 'cleaned' water back up to the DT.
3. Regardless of my placement of the UV, what's the best way to secure something like this within the sump cabinet? I guess hard-plumbing it would give me some more structure, but I would still want to secure it in place somewhere, right? Pipe clamps, cable ties, etc. depends on the space and the UV unit. I will actually be installing my Aqua UV unit next week and plan on screwing some very small brass cup hooks into my cabinet, then using elastic hair bands hooked onto the hooks as tie-down straps. Easy to hook and unhook for maintenance, etc.
4. The pump itself, my tank has about 140g. I assume a Sicce Syncra Silent 2.0 pump would be usable for the UV, with a max GPH of 568. I know that this is adjustable, so hopefully I can dial it to the appropriate flow even if I have to pump the water up a couple feet. I can't say if the 2.0 will be adequate or not since I don't know the volume of water your treating (I have no idea what the working volume of a 525XL system is, keep in mind though and if you need to dial the flow down even lower than the pump minimum output of the pump you choose, you could plumb in a small ball valve to limit the flow even more.

Here are some crude illustrations of ideas that I had about placement. It looks like I won't be able to submerge any part of the UV, so the drawing with it vertically in the corner might need to be moved into the other side where the storage cabinet is... darn. All that drawing for nothing! That is correct. DO NOT submerge the UV unit. They are not designed to be run underwater. Do you have room on your back wall or upper-front cabinet lip to mount it horizontally?

 

[Eclyps19]

Thanks so much for the feedback.

I really like the idea of adding a ball valve for quick manual control over the flow... I guess I can use any pump I want if I had that in place.

The unit that I'm getting has the '2" slip x slip with quick disconnect unions'. That seems HUGE compared to everything else that I've been plumbing. Would it be possible/reasonable to attach reducers without having a significant negative impact on performance? If I can reduce it down to 1", maybe I can hard-plumb a ball valve to the input and then soft-plumb from the pump to that to make my life a bit easier.

 

[dadnjesse]

I would adapt it to 3/4. Aqua sells adapters for 3/4 inch or you could find some at a hardware store. You don't want a lot of flow going through it.

 

[Eclyps19]

I just double checked, and the model that I’m getting actually does have the 3/4” adapters, which is awesome! So I plan on getting the following items. Let me know if I’m missing anything Important to get this thing running!

• 3/4” ball valve https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ball-valve-cepex.html
• 15’ of 3/4” braided vinyl tubing https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/braided-nylon-tubing-sold-by-the-foot.html
• A few 3/4” ratchet clamps https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ratchet-clamp-for-tubing-1-6684828461f4e5bda1e2a33b5e0db6d3.html
• Sicce Silent 2.0 Pump https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/sicce-syncra-silent-2-0-pump-568-gph.html
• Some schedule 80 3/4” pipe for the ball valve

 

[Jon Fishman]

Didn’t read everything, as I am lazy, but:

1) Soft tubing is way easier, and I just plumb it right to a D/C pump

2). Mount it so the light input/output on the uv are pointing up, so basically opposite you have it mocked up as.