How harmful the black stuff from Jebo UV sterilizer?

[Pimba]

I got a jebo UV H36 (36w) sterilizer and had been running it for only 2 weeks so far. I wiped inside the black housing today with a paper towel and there's black residue on it as many have experienced.

So my question is how harmful the black stuff to corals and fish? Should I put the UV back into work or not.

 

[Velcro]

I just run some carbon and hope for the best

 

[Dburr1014]

Strange, when I moved mine from the basement sump to the display, some of that leaked out. Landed on my mini carpet in front of my tank. It left a black puddle. I used carpet cleaner to get it out. Anyway, I thought it was just from the uv doing its job. I didn't clean the uv, just stuck it in the tank and hooked it up. No problems here and it's been a couple months.
I don't think you need to worry.

 

[homer1475]

Been using mine for about 2 years now. Every once in a while I'll take it out, and wipe the housing out. Always have the black stuff on my paper towel.

I haven't had any issues from it in the 2 years I've been using it.

 

[ReeferSamster]

Anyone identify what it is?
This only happens with Jebo UV's and is not anything related to UV lights in generaL?

 

[Dburr1014]

Anyone identify what it is?
This only happens with Jebo UV's and is not anything related to UV lights in generaL?

I wonder if it's the plastic breaking down? Don't know how it would get on the inside tho.

 

[Pimba]

I wonder if it's the plastic breaking down? Don't know how it would get on the inside tho.

UV light hits the inside plastic walls and it degrades the plastic. Plastic stays as black residue that we see ?

 

[Projects with Sam]

microplastics are everywhere! ahhhh! ;Nailbiting

 

[trelopoulos]

Same problem with a JBL PROCRISTAL UV-C Compact plus 18W i have it for almost two years use it some hours at night and i tried to clean it a bit.. and a lot of black coating from some plastics.. No idea how it effects reef animals but dosent look good..

 

[Pimba]

Yep exactly the same. What do you mean "doesn't look good". Do you see corals are not doing well or something

 

[trelopoulos]

Yep exactly the same. What do you mean "doesn't look good". Do you see corals are not doing well or something

Well i have a mix reef and the only reason i remove the UV for inspection-cleaning was to check for any rusted screws because my icp had high vanadium aluminium zink.
I had some coral mortalities like 2 sps stn and some zoas are not happy.. but cant really tell its from this uv issue.. most times corals die for numerous reasons.. anyway i have remove the UV from my tank and time will tell. But sure this black plastic coating isn't beneficial for corals..

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Well i have a mix reef and the only reason i remove the UV for inspection-cleaning was to check for any rusted screws because my icp had high vanadium aluminium zink.
I had some coral mortalities like 2 sps stn and some zoas are not happy.. but cant really tell its from this uv issue.. most times corals die for numerous reasons.. anyway i have remove the UV from my tank and time will tell. But sure this black plastic coating isn't beneficial for corals..

Yeah, that stuff doesn't sound particularly healthy whether it caused something to happen to your corals or not...either way I'm sure your corals will appreciate the increase in bacterioplankton while you have it removed temporarily

 

[blaxsun]

Another fine quality Chinese product...

 

[Dburr1014]

Same problem with a JBL PROCRISTAL UV-C Compact plus 18W i have it for almost two years use it some hours at night and i tried to clean it a bit.. and a lot of black coating from some plastics.. No idea how it effects reef animals but dosent look good..

Is that the plastic or the orings? I would suspect the rubber breaking down more than the plastic.

 

[TheDuude]

I used a Jebao UV a couple years back and experienced the same thing. It appeared to me to be the actual plastic housing breaking down not the o rings. I was not able to correlate any negative effects from it but I was worried the degrading plastic would eventually cause a leak.

Actually just got a Titan 850 UV installed this past week.

 

[trelopoulos]

Is that the plastic or the orings? I would suspect the rubber breaking down more than the plastic.

No the o rings are fine its the plastic .

 

[alain Bouchard]

been running jebao UV for about 3 years. saw the black gunk about 6 month after installing it, still running it 12 hours/day. absolutely no issue on life yet. SPS are very happy, no mortality from fish or invert inverts. coral growth is very good, good PE from all corals. But, had to change the UV because plastic from the casing burnt very thin in one area and water started leaking through it.

 

[Nickt516]

after running this sterilizer for about three months I had a major rtn event that wiped out over 20 acropora in my 400 gallon reef. I couldn't figure out the cause of the problem until one day it started leaking at one of the center seems. upon removal and inspection I noticed a black liquid pouring out. going on my second week without this sterilizer the remaining sps are starting to rebuild tissue slowly.

 

[spawn79]

I've been thinking about getting one of these and have been spending time doing some research. There are several youtube vids out there talking about the residue (fishofhex I think is one of them) as well as posts here and other places. It seems to be the plastic/pvc/abs that they use breaking down. From what I've seen even some more expensive brands suffer from this issue too so it's not isolated just to "chinese" stuff. (BTW, everything is chinese now) It all depends on what the housing is made of as some is UV stable and some isn't. Some have additives making them resistant to UV damage and some don't. Jebao obviously doesn't have these properties.
It also seems the jury is still out on if this black stuff actually causes harm to the reef or not. It's all purely anecdote from everything I've read so far. Personally I don't think it's probably good for any livestock considering it's not natural but.... no one actually knows for sure yet.

Basically like everything else you have to do your research and weigh the pros and cons of whatever product you are using/going to use. I don't like AI prime lights. Why buy something that just melts down the road and not replaced by the manufacturer? But thousands of people like them just fine. *shrugs*

 

[vincheesel]

I’ve got a Aqua UV and noticed the black stuff also - I did a citric acid run though of the system and it’s still there- do you run carbon in your tank ? -