Single pump for UV & reactor

[T-J]

In an effort to keep pumps to a minimum, can anyone see an issue with using one pump for running both a UV sterilizer and my media (dual stage) reactor?
If not, which order should I plumb them?

 

[Willbiker]

In an effort to keep pumps to a minimum, can anyone see an issue with using one pump for running both a UV sterilizer and my media (dual stage) reactor?
If not, which order should I plumb them?

I cant see a problem with that. If you are using the reactors for placing media for biological filtration or carbon then the flow rate required for a uv will be ok. However I cant see it working if you want to use the reactor for something like GFO as this requires a much slower flow rate. A uv requires quite a slow flow rate in order to be affective. I have a 36w uv with 600lph pump.

 

[count krunk]

I don't see any issue. Use a dc pump with either ball valves, or if you're feeling fancy, gate valves.

 

[Brett S]

I think a single pump for both things would be fine, but I wouldn’t plumb them in series. Instead use a manifold so you can feed them each independently. Both the UV and the reactor will require pretty specific flow rates and they are likely to not be the same, so if you tried to do them in series you would need to make compromises for one or both devices. Plumbing them in parallel will require a larger pump, but it will allow you to tune each one independently so you can get the best performance.

 

[TvanB1]

Definitely use a manifold.
How many watts is the UV? How big is the tank?

 

[Flameback Pair]

@T-J what are you using the reactor for? If it’s for GAC you can’t run the UV and reactor inline. The reactor will likely have a foam pad holding the GAC in place and it will slowly get clogged with detritus and or debris. Even if you don’t run a foam pad with the GAC in the reactor, the carbon particles will clog up the same. Flow rates will decrease over time if these two pieces of equipment are plumbed one after another. This will slowly choke down the flow rate going into the UV sterilizer. UV’s have very specific flow rates to abide with. Too little or too much flow will greatly affect the performance of the UV. With a carbon reactor and UV on the same pump you have to split the line with the UV plumbing on one side and the reactor on another side so the separate lines will allow two different flow rates. If you are using the reactor for GFO or bio-pellets your flow will be constant through the reactor over a given time period because the reactor media has to be at the same tumbling speed. This way the same pump can run both pieces of equipment one after another because the flow rate going through the tumbling reactor will always be at the same flow rate and the flow rate going through the UV will not change.

 

[T-J]

Thanks so much everyone. Great info! Looks like my two options are either a pump for each, or a single pump but splitting it into two lines so I can control the flow rate independently.

 

[T-J]

One other question. Since I’ll have a splitter and two gate valves to control the flow rate to both the UV and media reactor, I assume I’ll need a pressure rated pump. I have sicce on my other tank for the reactor, and like it. Would a Sicce pump be ok to do this with?