UV Sterilizer flow rate question

[notrosh]

Hey everyone,

I am in the process of getting my 215 up and running. I am putting in an IceCap 40w. It says in the "Efficiency and Flow Rate" guide that bacteria & algae needs 940gph and Parasites requires 300gph. I have a gate valve and hydros flow monitor so I can get relatively close to these numbers. It seems that if I ran it at 300gph, it would handle both bacteria/algae & parasites. Is this a correct assumption? Or am I missing something here?

Thanks....

 

[FUNGI]

at 300 gph, you will kill everything, so the assumption is correct

 

[notrosh]

Thanks Fungi

 

[SCReef'n]

Correct, it’s all about residence time. You need to ensure that you are exposing the cells to a high enough level of uvc to ensure cellular death. For ich that’s generally agreed to be 180,000microwatts /cm3. So you need to make sure the unit can provide that amount of uvc and buy a big enough one to maximize the number of tank turnovers to ensure your killing as many as possible for each life cycle time. Bigger your uv the more flow you can have and still get a min of 180kmicrowatts/cm3.

 

[GARRIGA]

Won't kill bacteria and algae because they multiply faster than pathogens. Only solution is getting higher wattage to handle higher flow rates.