Should I start using UV?

[Scrubber_steve]

I been reefing for over 10 years without UV and I have to clean and scrub the rocks and change water almost every 2 weeks. Clean the glass every 2 days. Now my new tank I have UV and no sand, NEVER LOOK Back, I only need to clean the glass once a month with only lite build up and now I only change water once a month too... everything is growing nicely. UV only run 12 hours cycle, make sure you have a flow meter and make sure water flow rate match the unit for Algae.

What brand & spec are you running?

 

[BlackPanther]

BRS UV video

watch this it’ll give more info

I'll, Thank you.

Yes use it. I have mine plumbed to a separate return pump with lower flow. My water is always clear and I don’t quarantine my fish although I haven’t added 1 in over a year since I’ve had no deaths and my tanks is at full capacity with my 14 fish. Not sure if it really does anything a simple far as clarity and disease suppression but the water is clear and I haven’t experienced anything other than very healthy fish in the 4 years my current tank has been running. I wouldn’t run a tank without one in the future.

Good to hear, Thanks a lot.

 

[Barks]

Make sure it’s a good quality uvc one and buy an adjustable dc pump so you can run slow for killing water borne parasites, viruses and a little quicker for algae.
you can buy a massive one and put it on the return pump or as I do put it in the middle sump section and outlet in return pump section so my copepods ect from my dsb can escape To dt.

 

[BlackPanther]

Make sure it’s a good quality uvc one and buy an adjustable dc pump so you can run slow for killing water borne parasites, viruses and a little quicker for algae.
you can buy a massive one and put it on the return pump or as I do put it in the middle sump section and outlet in return pump section so my copepods ect from my dsb can escape To dt.

Valuable info, well noted, thank you!

 

[sp1187]

Really?!!!

yes.... really.

 

[BlackPanther]

yes.... really.

Wow, I've never thought that will be possible!
can you share a photo from your tank?

 

[sp1187]

Wow, I've never thought that will be possible!
can you share a photo from your tank?

 

[BlackPanther]

So beautiful, but I can see rocks! no?
and if you're not using a skimmer what is your filtration?
Thanks for sharing tho

 

[sp1187]

So beautiful, but I can see rocks! no?
and if you're not using a skimmer what is your filtration?
Thanks for sharing tho

Thank you.
The scape is 2 part putty over a pvc skeleton. Non-porous. The only rock are small pieces I've bought that had mushrooms, xenia or mini max nems attached.
Using Marine Pure Bio Blocks in the sump and a SURF4X up flow algae scrubber.

 

[SPR1968]

UV-C will kill the floating stages of fish parasites provided they flow through the unit itself And provided is powerful enough

I use one on both my systems a 20w and 80w DD UVC

From what I’ve studied it’s all about contact time and if you want to kill of certain parasites, like for example ich, you have to achieve 72000 micro watts/sec and there is a calculation you can do based on the UVC power and the flow rate to achieve this.

The UVC only kills things that pass through it, so of course it’s not 100% effective but it certainly helps, and in reality I can’t see any down side to using one other than changing the bulb every 12 months.

The following is a quote from DD (David Saxby’s company) which I found helpful when researching:

‘’For water clarity we suggest a U.V intensity of 30,000 microwatt's/sec/sq.cm and our U.V sterilisers are designed to deliver this at the quoted flow/contact rate through the unit.
The mistake that many hobbyists make with our and other manufacturers U.V systems is not getting the flow rate right through the UV and connecting any old pump to it.If flow is increased the bacteria/algae or parasites do not get the correct U.V exposure and many happily pass right through the unit.

This is of some interest when trying to kill the white spot parasite as a greater U.V intensity of 72,000 microwatt's/sec/sq.cm is required to kill it. So with this in mind we have to take the standard flow rate of the unit for 30,000 microwatts and divide it by 2.4 to give you a flow rate for 72,000 microwatts exposure time.

So you will need to divide the suggest 500l/hr flow rate by 2.4 giving a new flow rate through the unit of 208 l/hr to kill the white spot. This will give a 0.6 times turn over for a 350l aquarium so it maybe worth going for the 20 watt unit and running it at 416 l/hr giving you over 1x tank turn over an hour but giving the correct kill intensity for white spot.’’

Hope this helps you decide

 

[BlackPanther]

UV-C will kill the floating stages of fish parasites provided they flow through the unit itself And provided is powerful enough

I use one on both my systems a 20w and 80w DD UVC

From what I’ve studied it’s all about contact time and if you want to kill of certain parasites, like for example ich, you have to achieve 72000 micro watts/sec and there is a calculation you can do based on the UVC power and the flow rate to achieve this.

The UVC only kills things that pass through it, so of course it’s not 100% effective but it certainly helps, and in reality I can’t see any down side to using one other than changing the bulb every 12 months.

The following is a quote from DD (David Saxby’s company) which I found helpful when researching:

‘’For water clarity we suggest a U.V intensity of 30,000 microwatt's/sec/sq.cm and our U.V sterilisers are designed to deliver this at the quoted flow/contact rate through the unit.
The mistake that many hobbyists make with our and other manufacturers U.V systems is not getting the flow rate right through the UV and connecting any old pump to it.If flow is increased the bacteria/algae or parasites do not get the correct U.V exposure and many happily pass right through the unit.

This is of some interest when trying to kill the white spot parasite as a greater U.V intensity of 72,000 microwatt's/sec/sq.cm is required to kill it. So with this in mind we have to take the standard flow rate of the unit for 30,000 microwatts and divide it by 2.4 to give you a flow rate for 72,000 microwatts exposure time.

So you will need to divide the suggest 500l/hr flow rate by 2.4 giving a new flow rate through the unit of 208 l/hr to kill the white spot. This will give a 0.6 times turn over for a 350l aquarium so it maybe worth going for the 20 watt unit and running it at 416 l/hr giving you over 1x tank turn over an hour but giving the correct kill intensity for white spot.’’

Hope this helps you decide

That's quite informative, thank you. I'll check with my LFS as well, I hope I can set the right flow.