UV Setup Effectiveness

[hobbyreefer]

What do you guys think about the effectiveness of this UV setup. I know aesthetically it looks bad. It's my understanding that the best practices setup would be running the UV in a closed loop DT to DT. I don't want to do that because the COR-20 pump is so large it just looks bad.

I'm also not crazy about the idea of tying this into my return pump although that is what I'm thinking of trying next.

The way I have it now is the UV pump (orange COR-20) is in the second to last chamber in my sump. It then returns water directly into the last chamber where the return pump is located. I'm hoping that most of the UV returned water gets pulled back into the DT via the vector return pump...

I tried to pull water from the first chamber in my sump but it was messing up the water level (COR 20 too strong)..

Will the setup shown in the photo below be effective? I purchased the UV for Dinos. When I was clearing the Dinos I had the COR 20 directly in the DT. It worked very well. Now I'm just running the DT for algae/bacteria. My water is slightly cloudy, so I'm questioning the effectiveness... Thoughts?

5' 160 gallon DT
30 gallon sump
40watt Pentair UV
COR 20 pump

 

[Flippers4pups]

Are you controlling the water flow through the UV? It's effectiveness depends on proper dwell time.

If you have the extra head pressure from the return pump, it will be more efficient to run it that way from a electrical usage stand point.

 

[Ocelaris]

You know, after watching the brs video on uv sterilizer efficiency I did something similar to you. I have two return pumps, one drives the manifold (carbon/gfo, uv and chiller) and returns, while the other one only returns to the tank. I've rerouted the manifold returns to the return pump chamber where I've sectioned off the two halves loosely so most filtered and chilled water return to the tank. I think we're making the best out of plumbing that's already in place, which is as good as its going to get. I think brs doesn't realize how much those little videos affect the hobby in small ways over time, but I'm really grateful they make them. Thanks BRS! @randyBRS

You can see where the manifold used to return and I quickly put together some pvc to reroute it.

 

[Ocelaris]

Another added benefit is a longer cycle for the Chiller. You can see before I had it running about 6 times a day, whereas now it's only going 3 times a day. I'm assuming the UV is also having similar improvements, but it's harder to measure that.

 

[Jaebster]

Conceptually, if you are routing a UV on a separate pump from prior chamber (chamber 1 or 2) to a later chamber (2 or 3 or return chamber), the flow going through your UV must be much lower than the flow going up your return (and equally down your overflow). The reason for this is because you will not be able to effectively utilize your skimmer and/or fuge. For example...
If you total return pump/overflow actual water volume is 1000 GPH (without any UV plumbed. That volume of water goes through each of your chambers in an hourly basis. Then you add in the pump for your UV at 950GPH taking water from the 1st or 2nd chamber and pumping water in to a later chamber close to or into the return chamber, that only gives you 50 gph going through the chambers in between. Say you have a skimmer set up in between the chambers that the UV pump is taking water from and to, then your skimmer is only has the ability to process water that is going to it at a slow volume, which will cause the skimmer to recirculate a lot of the already skimmed water. Same thing with the fuge section if this chamber is set in between the UV pump inlet and outlet.
If you're treating for protozoans, this set up is great because the UV pump is probably pump gph at a much lower rate than than the return pump/overflow.
And I will state the obvious... if your return pump is pumping 1000GPH and your UV is pumping 1050GPH from prior chamber to later chamber... its a FAIL. Your UV pump chamber will be pumping water into the later chamber and 90% (sorry not exact math but see last sentence) water from the later chamber will flow water back to the UV pump chamber, causing recirculation between chambers. Because the overflow water is constant, and volume of water from overflow has to travel towards the return chamber, your UV pump will be doing all of the water movement between the chambers.

 

[Badilac]

You know, after watching the brs video on uv sterilizer efficiency I did something similar to you. I have two return pumps, one drives the manifold (carbon/gfo, uv and chiller) and returns, while the other one only returns to the tank. I've rerouted the manifold returns to the return pump chamber where I've sectioned off the two halves loosely so most filtered and chilled water return to the tank. I think we're making the best out of plumbing that's already in place, which is as good as its going to get. I think brs doesn't realize how much those little videos affect the hobby in small ways over time, but I'm really grateful they make them. Thanks BRS! @randyBRS

You can see where the manifold used to return and I quickly put together some pvc to reroute it.

My setup is similar. My tank has 2 returns. I have 1 pump that feeds my UV then returns to my tank. Then I have a second pump that feeds my chiller and fuge (through a manifold) then returns to my tank. So if you have 2 returns on your tank its better do a setup similar to ours.

 

[Ocelaris]

To the original poster, I think your concept is right, but the cor20 is way too powerful. Ramp it all the way down and do the gallon bucket test to see how much water is going through the uv. I have mine cranked down with a manifold ball valve (gate would have been better). I tested it once and it was a mess and I've left it since.

 

[Michael Gray]

I have 2 uvs one is temp. I have mine on a varios 2 in sump. Draws from skimmer section and Dumps in return.

I hooked another up DT draw to DT return. This is for Dino's. And I'm unsure if it's that much better. It makes sense in theory. Dt draw. But I have both running and coolia is still lingering. I think it's the flow