UV Sterilizer questions

[Susan Edwards]

It's not that bad. I give it a quick scrape with the Tunze about once a week to keep it sparkly clean and drop in 20ml of Vibrant every weekend.

Other than coralline I don't really have any serious algae issues (even in the sump).

I'll try putting vibrant back into my routine. The only algae I have is what is on the glass. I'd be happy with once a week scrapping! Turning up the flow rate today to try that as well

 

[oldmonk]

I don't know about flow rate. @blaxtron is better at that. But I'd put the intake in the skimmer chamber and the output into the return unless you are using your return pump to feed your UV? I have a dedicated pump for my manifold, which my UV is connected to. I'm still working out my flow rate needed, and need to move my pump into another chamber.

Yes , i would be running a seperate pump just for the UV.

The reason i am bit reluctant on taking the intake from the skimmer chamber is am not a fan of filter socks, i have always used sponges on my earlier set ups , so dont want detritus to be taken into the UV. But if thats the most efficient way of running the UV, will look into it.

lets see what @blaxsun has to say.

Thanks for writing

 

[blaxsun]

Yes , i would be running a seperate pump just for the UV.

The reason i am bit reluctant on taking the intake from the skimmer chamber is am not a fan of filter socks, i have always used sponges on my earlier set ups , so dont want detritus to be taken into the UV. But if thats the most efficient way of running the UV, will look into it.

lets see what @blaxsun has to say.

Thanks for writing

This is how I have my AquaUV 57-watt setup. Note the following:

* I run 4x 100-micron filter socks just outside the right edge of the image (where you see the ATO)
* I'm using the full width for the first post-filter chamber (bottom) which Red Sea labels "refugium". This allows me to run two MarinePure bio blocks in the center plus a bunch of the bio spheres to the immediate right (there's just enough room to pull out the filter sock trays).
* To the far left I have all my Neptune probes (temperature, salinity, ORP and ph).

Immediately to the right of the probes you'll see a braided hose snaking down (there's a Sicce SDC 6.0 pump that connects to it). This goes up to the AquaUV on the left and comes down the hose in the background that empties into the skimmer/reactor chamber (the return pump chamber is to the right of that below the ATO). I should point out that installing the UV upside down like this is not recommended and poses a few challenges to eliminate air bubbles (not insurmountable).

I estimate that the Sicce SDC 6.0 probably pulls in excess of 75% of the pre-filtered water which is diverted directly into the skimmer chamber (this comes down over the heaters and flows to the left - ensuring a nice circular flow pattern in that chamber. The other ~25% goes directly through the comb filter into the skimmer chamber where it's either run through the protein skimmer of pair of reactors.

The Sicce SDC 9.0 powering the main return runs @45%, and with a ~2.5m length works out to around 700 Gph. The Sicce SDC 6.0 powering the UV runs @45% as well, and based on a rough estimate of ~0.5m length works out to about 565 Gph. The specs from AquaUV indicate I can run up to 1,066 Gph (85%) and still get the maximum UV exposure of 90,000μ, so the actual radiation exposure is probably close to double.

While not ideal, if you're faced with stock plumbing for your tank - short of ripping apart the plumbing to install a manifold you don't have a lot of options. And what's interesting is that very few people run their UVs entirely off their return pump; most run a bypass at a reduced flow rate for the UV. And here's the kicker: Where do you think they drain it? Into either the skimmer or return pump chamber.

So wrap your head around that for a minute: most of the "proper" UV setups are actually re-sterilizing the same water over and over again - because they're diverting the return flow through the UV and then depositing it right back into the same or adjacent chamber. At least with my setup, while I fully admit that I'm probably not pulling more than 75% of the overflow through the UV - everything through the UV ends up in the skimmer chamber. So whether it subsequently runs through the skimmer or reactors (or goes straight into the return chamber), it's only being UV sterilized once - because it can't reverse flow back through the comb filter into the refugium chamber.

I did a bit of research on properly sizing your UV prior to installation, and while larger is always potentially better - the recommended hourly tank turnover is only something like 1-1.5x. I'm getting roughly 2.825x and in a pinch (say fish start showing signs of illness) I can ramp this up to 5.3x in just a few seconds. I personally wouldn't go as low as 1-1.5x, but I think anything in the 2.5-3x range (or higher) is perfect.

 

[oldmonk]

This is how I have my AquaUV 57-watt setup. Note the following:

* I run 4x 100-micron filter socks just outside the right edge of the image (where you see the ATO)
* I'm using the full width for the first post-filter chamber (bottom) which Red Sea labels "refugium". This allows me to run two MarinePure bio blocks in the center plus a bunch of the bio spheres to the immediate right (there's just enough room to pull out the filter sock trays).
* To the far left I have all my Neptune probes (temperature, salinity, ORP and ph).

Immediately to the right of the probes you'll see a braided hose snaking down (there's a Sicce SDC 6.0 pump that connects to it). This goes up to the AquaUV on the left and comes down the hose in the background that empties into the skimmer/reactor chamber (the return pump chamber is to the right of that below the ATO). I should point out that installing the UV upside down like this is not recommended and poses a few challenges to eliminate air bubbles (not insurmountable).

I estimate that the Sicce SDC 6.0 probably pulls in excess of 75% of the pre-filtered water which is diverted directly into the skimmer chamber (this comes down over the heaters and flows to the left - ensuring a nice circular flow pattern in that chamber. The other ~25% goes directly through the comb filter into the skimmer chamber where it's either run through the protein skimmer of pair of reactors.

The Sicce SDC 9.0 powering the main return runs @45%, and with a ~2.5m length works out to around 700 Gph. The Sicce SDC 6.0 powering the UV runs @45% as well, and based on a rough estimate of ~0.5m length works out to about 565 Gph. The specs from AquaUV indicate I can run up to 1,066 Gph (85%) and still get the maximum UV exposure of 90,000μ, so the actual radiation exposure is probably close to double.

While not ideal, if you're faced with stock plumbing for your tank - short of ripping apart the plumbing to install a manifold you don't have a lot of options. And what's interesting is that very few people run their UVs entirely off their return pump; most run a bypass at a reduced flow rate for the UV. And here's the kicker: Where do you think they drain it? Into either the skimmer or return pump chamber.

So wrap your head around that for a minute: most of the "proper" UV setups are actually re-sterilizing the same water over and over again - because they're diverting the return flow through the UV and then depositing it right back into the same or adjacent chamber. At least with my setup, while I fully admit that I'm probably not pulling more than 75% of the overflow through the UV - everything through the UV ends up in the skimmer chamber. So whether it subsequently runs through the skimmer or reactors (or goes straight into the return chamber), it's only being UV sterilized once - because it can't reverse flow back through the comb filter into the refugium chamber.

I did a bit of research on properly sizing your UV prior to installation, and while larger is always potentially better - the recommended hourly tank turnover is only something like 1-1.5x. I'm getting roughly 2.825x and in a pinch (say fish start showing signs of illness) I can ramp this up to 5.3x in just a few seconds. I personally wouldn't go as low as 1-1.5x, but I think anything in the 2.5-3x range (or higher) is perfect.

Many thanks for taking out time and explaning the UV set up of yr system and also how its to be done to get most out of the UV..

let me give you an idea of my upcoming set up.
System will be Cade s21500- total water volume 150gallon. And yes it will be stock plumbing.

With Cade basically they have incorporated the drain and the refugium chamber into one and have provided a removable baffle if one doesnt want to have a fuge, the entire section then can be used for skimmer, reactors and any other stuff that one can think of. I am attching a picture of the cade sump. Mite be easy to visualize.

Also if you see the pic, the gap between the sock holder and the removable baffle is just 13.4cm

As the design of the sump is this way , i was bit confused about the intake and outlet of the UV.

For the plumbing cade provides 2 drain pipes , out of which one has a gate valve control.

The return pipe has a manifold system with total 3 outlets with ball valves. As per Cade these can be used for reactors and chillers.

There are people who have plumbed the UV off the return as you mentioned and also i have come across setups that are running UV and chiller in series. Meaning a dedicated pump which channels the water 1st thru the UV, and the water from the outlet of the UV enters the chiller and finally back into return chamber. How they manage different flow rates required for the UV and chiller, i absolutely have no idea and to be honest i dint bother to think as i have no plans of taking this route.

Now coming to my brand of UV thats Deltec, when i spoke to the Deltec support , they told me that with 39w with a flow rate of 2000lph the turn over would be 2.85x . This will improve the water quality and enhance the clarity along with reduction in number of bacteria, parasites and algea present in the water column.

But if my aim is to combat harder to kill parasites say for e.g. White Spot, then they suggested to go with 80w model and reduce the flow thru the unit to increase the stock radiation intensity to 33,000 microwatts/sec/sq.cm to 72,000 microwatts/sec/sq.cm. This can be acheived via dwell time .

So basically to achieve this radiation(from 80w model)one will have to reduce the flow rate from the recommended 4000lph to 1835 lph. This will increase the radiation but at the same time maintain the turn over to around 2.62x.

Hence the other dilemma of choosing the right size..

 

[blaxsun]

A couple of quick questions for you:
1. Are you planning to run a refugium at all? I would be inclined to leave that baffle in-place regardless as I think there are a few advantages (probes and dosingj.
2. Do you know the dimensions of the Deltec 80w model you're looking at?
3. Are you planning to run a separate pump for the Deltec UV or off the manifold?

 

[oldmonk]

Hey

1. No i don't plan to run a separate fuge, but plan to have a macro algea reactor.

2. Dimensions of 80w model are : 930 x 85 x 160mm . The 39w model also is of same dimensions

3. Seperate pump dedicated for UV