UV flow rate for Dino? 57 watt Aqua UV

bozo · Apr 9, 2023

Hey All

I have a 30 gallon tank with a 20 gallon sump.

Total volume is probably 35-40 gallons.

Tank is about 2 months old and I’ve had the UV running for about 1 month. I have a MP40 running at 5% on reef crest.

I’ve been dosing phyto and pods everyday since week 3. I have gfo, a nyos 120 skimmer, and a fuge running and growing macro. I’m going to start dosing mb7 tomorrow.

My nitrate and phosphates are 1 ppm and 0.009 ppm. Both tested with Hanna. I need to get them up a little.

Im starting to see minimal Dino form on the sand bed and a little on the rock. The turbo and crabs take care of a lot of it.

Im just wondering what the best flow rate I should run for my 57 watt UV. I know it’s a bit oversized for the tank volume, so I really don’t know what rate to run it. All this equipment came off my 225 gallon tank lol.

thanks

blaxsun · Apr 9, 2023

It's waaaaaaaaaaaay overkill, yeah. I run mine at 650Gph (ish) on my 200-gallon system, but that may be way too much for your system. Your best bet is to downgrade to something smaller (UVs need good flow to ensure they don't overheat and get damaged, so you don't want to be running it at really slow flow rates).

bozo · Apr 9, 2023

blaxsun said:
It's waaaaaaaaaaaay overkill, yeah. I run mine at 650Gph (ish) on my 200-gallon system, but that may be way too much for your system. Your best bet is to downgrade to something smaller (UVs need good flow to ensure they don't overheat and get damaged, so you don't want to be running it at really slow flow rates).

lol yea I was plumbing the tank and right after I put the UV on... I told myself this might be too big lol!

I’ve heard that higher flow rate through the UV is required to kill the Dino because it replicates fast.

Im just not sure how fast lol.

Thanks for the reply

Photo is from maybe week 3