UV damage in sump

[vetteguy53081]

I placed a UV light directly in my eshopps sump for a week. The eshopps site says they are UV resistant and I read acrylic has a 3% degradation to UV over a decade of sun exposure, so I thought it would be ok. Today I noticed hundreds of small cracks in the acrylic that must be from the UV light because there is no damage in the circular area which was where the suction cup was for the UV light. Is this just cosmetic or has the acrylic become brittle?

Can be the unit but happens frequently from high heat exposure, or impact

 

[jiggysmb]

I talked with a shop that makes acrylic tanks and they said better brands use Acrylite OP-3 which this would not happen with. They said this is common with cheaper and older model from EShopps. I didnt think the sump was more than 5 years old so that is kind of sad for the price they charge.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I talked with a shop that makes acrylic tanks and they said better brands use Acrylite OP-3 which this would not happen with. They said this is common with cheaper and older model from EShopps. I didnt think the sump was more than 5 years old so that is kind of sad for the price they charge.

To be fair, the issue is with a dangerous exposed UV bulb, not the quality of the sump which would normally live in semi-darkness under a tank and not be exposed to high levels of UV radiation.

 

[nickng]

actually like those UV lights for DIY. Why not enclose it in a opaque glass tube and put it inline with a flow controllable manifold attached to the return pump?
Assuming that it doesn't eventually cause electric shocks!

 

[F4u-SuperCorsair]

Probably a little safer than the suicide or widowmaker extension cords with 2 male ends that were being sold by chinese sellers on amazon for back feeding generators. Very much illegal to sell in the U.S. (and deadly)

I have one of those cords. It came in handy when I lost power for 10 days in the first part of January.

 

[Jamie814]

Utility company could lock out your service if they see you using one. Back feeding is dangerous for you and line workers.

 

[F4u-SuperCorsair]

Utility company could lock out your service if they see you using one. Back feeding is dangerous for you and line workers.

I have a quick disconnect so no the can't.

 

[jiggysmb]

To be fair, the issue is with a dangerous exposed UV bulb, not the quality of the sump which would normally live in semi-darkness under a tank and not be exposed to high levels of UV radiation.

maybe... but many reef tank products are made with UV resistant acrylic, apparently not Eshopps products. Eshopps claims there is no way UV light caused the spider cracks and stated it was simply age. I knew this was impossible since there was no cracks behind the UV lights suction cups.

I did a test in a cardboard box and left the UV light against my eshopps protein skimmer for 2 days, the cracks were very obvious after just 2 days. I had an old red sea 300 skimmer and did the same thing, no cracks, not a single one. It is clear to me that the Eshopps product are not worth the cost. The support is non existent and I am happy to sacrifice their products to prove this point.

 

[exnisstech]

I wonder if China use these type of products themselves or just sell them to us cheapskates to use

 

[Lowell Lemon]

This is why only cellcast,UV stabilized acrylic should ever be used for sumps and aquarium construction.

 

[RoanokeReef]

maybe... but many reef tank products are made with UV resistant acrylic, apparently not Eshopps products. Eshopps claims there is no way UV light caused the spider cracks and stated it was simply age. I knew this was impossible since there was no cracks behind the UV lights suction cups.

I did a test in a cardboard box and left the UV light against my eshopps protein skimmer for 2 days, the cracks were very obvious after just 2 days. I had an old red sea 300 skimmer and did the same thing, no cracks, not a single one. It is clear to me that the Eshopps product are not worth the cost. The support is non existent and I am happy to sacrifice their products to prove this point.

Soo you're just ignoring the issue of the open UV bulb. The issue is the bulb not the sump. I assume Eshops or any manufacture doesn't expect you to take a non-shielded UV bulb and drop it in their sump.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

I wonder if China use these type of products themselves or just sell them to us cheapskates to use

Well they have allowed dangerious chemicals in infant formula and blood pressure medications....what could possibly go wrong?

Oh let's not forget they supply all the chemicals for Fentanal to the drug cartels in Mexico and Central America...but they are just filling demand right?

 

[exnisstech]

Well they have allowed dangerious chemicals in infant formula and blood pressure medications....what could possibly go wrong?

Oh let's not forget they supply all the chemicals for Fentanal to the drug cartels in Mexico and Central America...but they are just filling demand right?

I just asked out of curiosity. I started isolating myself from world events years ago so I'm not up on things. Right or wrong its just my way of dealing with the Insanity without going insane myself.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

I just asked out of curiosity. I started isolating myself from world events years ago so I'm not up on things. Right or wrong its just my way of dealing with the Insanity without going insane myself.

Great advice right there.

 

[exnisstech]

Great advice right there.

I sense this is sarcasm. If not I apologize. I've just learned a long time ago that worrying about things I have some control over is ok. Worrying about things I can't control is not good. At least not for me. I'll crawl back under my rock

 

[Troylee]

I sense this is sarcasm. If not I apologize. I've just learned a long time ago that worrying about things I have some control over is ok. Worrying about things I can't control is not good. At least not for me. I'll crawl back under my rock

Don’t think it was sarcasm! It was great advice to isolate yourself from world events and I agree! Lol

 

[Lowell Lemon]

I sense this is sarcasm. If not I apologize. I've just learned a long time ago that worrying about things I have some control over is ok. Worrying about things I can't control is not good. At least not for me. I'll crawl back under my rock

No sarcasm at all. Just good advise on your part.

We all might do better under a rock than in the wild of the media age!

 

[jiggysmb]

Just thought other hobbyists would like to know who uses cheaper acrylic that may not last as long as similarly priced products. It is truly surprising how this forum has shifted over the past few years. Helpful users are about gone and the board is full of sponsored accounts and overly critical hobbyists.

 

[RoanokeReef]

Just thought other hobbyists would like to know who uses cheaper acrylic that may not last as long as similarly priced products. It is truly surprising how this forum has shifted over the past few years. Helpful users are about gone and the board is full of sponsored accounts and overly critical hobbyists.

Dude you're doing the equivalent of dropping a plugged-in toaster into a bathtub full of water and complaining the toaster fried.

What you're doing is dangerous and of course a sump builder didn't plan on you using an unsafe Chinese product that 99% of people wouldn't do. Sorry if two pages ignoring your sump complaint and telling you what you're doing is dangerous isn't helpful, but it actually is, you're just choosing to ignore it.

 

[GlassMunky]

maybe... but many reef tank products are made with UV resistant acrylic, apparently not Eshopps products. Eshopps claims there is no way UV light caused the spider cracks and stated it was simply age. I knew this was impossible since there was no cracks behind the UV lights suction cups.

I did a test in a cardboard box and left the UV light against my eshopps protein skimmer for 2 days, the cracks were very obvious after just 2 days. I had an old red sea 300 skimmer and did the same thing, no cracks, not a single one. It is clear to me that the Eshopps product are not worth the cost. The support is non existent and I am happy to sacrifice their products to prove this point.

No. This is entirely your user error. This isn’t on eshopps. You used bad product that caused something to get broken. How is it shops fault you got this cheap dangerous uv light?

Some people…. Smh