Uv

[Michelle Conabere]

Uv sterilizes what would be good for a 4 foot approx 380 liters. saltwater aquarium when would you know if you need one apart from testing your water. I am new to saltwater aquarium. I want soft corals and fish. I'm just starting out with research about uv. My tank is not up and running yet as I'm waiting on a part from the previous owners before I can put water in to flow over the weir.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Uv sterilizes what would be good for a 4 foot approx 380 liters. saltwater aquarium when would you know if you need one apart from testing your water. I am new to saltwater aquarium. I want soft corals and fish. I'm just starting out with research about uv. My tank is not up and running yet as I'm waiting on a part from the previous owners before I can put water in to flow over the weir.

There's much debate about UV and their use in the hobby.

From my personal experience with them over the years I've learned that they do have their place, but with limits.

As for the highly talked about parasite elimination and or control, it's a mixed bag. In order to eliminate parasites, the system would need a high turnover rate and a very large UV with the correct dwell time. Dwell time is the amount of time the parasites are exposed to the UV radiation to damage their ability to reproduce. I found this almost impossible with hobby grade UV's. Some have stated that they can control their numbers and the fish can "live" with the problem. I haven't found that to be the case in my experience.

What I use a UV for is water clarity. Helps keep algae and bacterial blooms at bay. That's all I use mine for.

In my personal opinion, fish that are sick with parasites or disease need to be QT'd and treated accordingly. Systems need to be left fallow till the issues is clear. All fish, inverts and coral should be quarantined and observed and treated (except inverts) as needed before placing into a DT.

 

[cromag27 Verified Sponsor]

There's much debate about UV and their use in the hobby.

From my personal experience with them over the years I've learned that they do have their place, but with limits.

As for the highly talked about parasite elimination and or control, it's a mixed bag. In order to eliminate parasites, the system would need a high turnover rate and a very large UV with the correct dwell time. Dwell time is the amount of time the parasites are exposed to the UV radiation to damage their ability to reproduce. I found this almost impossible with hobby grade UV's. Some have stated that they can control their numbers and the fish can "live" with the problem. I haven't found that to be the case in my experience.

What I use a UV for is water clarity. Helps keep algae and bacterial blooms at bay. That's all I use mine for.

In my personal opinion, fish that are sick with parasites or disease need to be QT'd and treated accordingly. Systems need to be left fallow till the issues is clear. All fish, inverts and coral should be quarantined and observed and treated (except inverts) as needed before placing into a DT.

this. might help with film algae but don’t expect it to do anything for parasites.

 

[Michelle Conabere]

There's much debate about UV and their use in the hobby.

From my personal experience with them over the years I've learned that they do have their place, but with limits.

As for the highly talked about parasite elimination and or control, it's a mixed bag. In order to eliminate parasites, the system would need a high turnover rate and a very large UV with the correct dwell time. Dwell time is the amount of time the parasites are exposed to the UV radiation to damage their ability to reproduce. I found this almost impossible with hobby grade UV's. Some have stated that they can control their numbers and the fish can "live" with the problem. I haven't found that to be the case in my experience.

What I use a UV for is water clarity. Helps keep algae and bacterial blooms at bay. That's all I use mine for.

In my personal opinion, fish that are sick with parasites or disease need to be QT'd and treated accordingly. Systems need to be left fallow till the issues is clear. All fish, inverts and coral should be quarantined and observed and treated (except inverts) as needed before placing into a DT.

Thank you for your insight it's very helpful.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Thank you for your insight it's very helpful.

Anytime and your welcome. If you ever need help and no one's answering, just type #reefsquad and one if us will answer.

 

[Michelle Conabere]

Anytime and your welcome. If you ever need help and no one's answering, just type #reefsquad and one if us will answer.

Thank you I'm so new to saltwater aquariums. I have so many questions. I have watched BRS tv videos on you tube so got heaps of information.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Thank you I'm so new to saltwater aquariums. I have so many questions. I have watched BRS tv videos on you tube so got heaps of information.

Heres a good read:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-supreme-guide-to-setting-up-a-saltwater-reef-aquarium.138750/

 

[JasonK84]

Uv sterilizers are used in multiple applications. Freshwater aquariums, ponds, swimming pools, and of course our hobby. As stated above they can help control parasites but they will not eradicate. A QT system is invaluable to success in this hobby but UV sterilizers still have their place with water clarity. It will help keep algae at bay and keep you from cleaning the glass every day.

 

[SPR1968]

Hi Michelle and welcome to R2R!

I think UV-C is possibly more popular in Europe and I’ve certainly used one since I started out

From what I’ve studied it’s all about contact time and if you want to kill of certain parasites, like for example ich, you have to achieve 72000 micro watts/sec and there is a calculation you can do based on the UVC power and the flow rate to achieve this.

The UVC only kills things that pass through it, so of course it’s not 100% effective but it certainly helps, and in reality I can’t see any down side to using one other than changing the bulb every 12 months.



The following is a quote from DD (David Saxby’s company) which I found helpful when researching:

‘’For water clarity we suggest a U.V intensity of 30,000 microwatt's/sec/sq.cm and our U.V sterilisers are designed to deliver this at the quoted flow/contact rate through the unit.
The mistake that many hobbyists make with our and other manufacturers U.V systems is not getting the flow rate right through the UV and connecting any old pump to it.If flow is increased the bacteria/algae or parasites do not get the correct U.V exposure and many happily pass right through the unit.

This is of some interest when trying to kill the white spot parasite as a greater U.V intensity of 72,000 microwatt's/sec/sq.cm is required to kill it. So with this in mind we have to take the standard flow rate of the unit for 30,000 microwatts and divide it by 2.4 to give you a flow rate for 72,000 microwatts exposure time.

So you will need to divide the suggest 500l/hr flow rate by 2.4 giving a new flow rate through the unit of 208 l/hr to kill the white spot. This will give a 0.6 times turn over for a 350l aquarium so it maybe worth going for the 20 watt unit and running it at 416 l/hr giving you over 1x tank turn over an hour but giving the correct kill intensity for white spot.’’

Hope this helps you decide

 

[Michelle Conabere]

Hi Michelle and welcome to R2R!

I think UV-C is possibly more popular in Europe and I’ve certainly used one since I started out

From what I’ve studied it’s all about contact time and if you want to kill of certain parasites, like for example ich, you have to achieve 72000 micro watts/sec and there is a calculation you can do based on the UVC power and the flow rate to achieve this.

The UVC only kills things that pass through it, so of course it’s not 100% effective but it certainly helps, and in reality I can’t see any down side to using one other than changing the bulb every 12 months.



The following is a quote from DD (David Saxby’s company) which I found helpful when researching:

‘’For water clarity we suggest a U.V intensity of 30,000 microwatt's/sec/sq.cm and our U.V sterilisers are designed to deliver this at the quoted flow/contact rate through the unit.
The mistake that many hobbyists make with our and other manufacturers U.V systems is not getting the flow rate right through the UV and connecting any old pump to it.If flow is increased the bacteria/algae or parasites do not get the correct U.V exposure and many happily pass right through the unit.

This is of some interest when trying to kill the white spot parasite as a greater U.V intensity of 72,000 microwatt's/sec/sq.cm is required to kill it. So with this in mind we have to take the standard flow rate of the unit for 30,000 microwatts and divide it by 2.4 to give you a flow rate for 72,000 microwatts exposure time.

So you will need to divide the suggest 500l/hr flow rate by 2.4 giving a new flow rate through the unit of 208 l/hr to kill the white spot. This will give a 0.6 times turn over for a 350l aquarium so it maybe worth going for the 20 watt unit and running it at 416 l/hr giving you over 1x tank turn over an hour but giving the correct kill intensity for white spot.’’

Hope this helps you decide

Thank you so much for that information. I just need to find out what flow rate my pump is. How do I find that out?

 

[Scrubber_steve]

There's much debate about UV and their use in the hobby.

From my personal experience with them over the years I've learned that they do have their place, but with limits.

As for the highly talked about parasite elimination and or control, it's a mixed bag. In order to eliminate parasites, the system would need a high turnover rate and a very large UV with the correct dwell time. Dwell time is the amount of time the parasites are exposed to the UV radiation to damage their ability to reproduce. I found this almost impossible with hobby grade UV's. Some have stated that they can control their numbers and the fish can "live" with the problem. I haven't found that to be the case in my experience.

What I use a UV for is water clarity. Helps keep algae and bacterial blooms at bay. That's all I use mine for.

In my personal opinion, fish that are sick with parasites or disease need to be QT'd and treated accordingly. Systems need to be left fallow till the issues is clear. All fish, inverts and coral should be quarantined and observed and treated (except inverts) as needed before placing into a DT.

Do they have any effect on limiting glass film algae ?

 

[mtraylor]

Yes

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Thank you so much for that information. I just need to find out what flow rate my pump is. How do I find that out?

It may have a specification written on it, but the actual flow needs to be measured at the 'head height' you run it at. Bucket & stop watch job

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Yes

How noticable?

 

[mtraylor]

Depends on how good your uv is and condition of aquarium. The more dwell time the better the quality depending on flow rate.

I have no tools to measure, but clarity is night and day. Cleaning glass for me is delayed by a couple days.

Just fyi. Uv will do nothing for cyano algae. Only brown green algae.

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Depends on how good your uv is and condition of aquarium. The more dwell time the better the quality depending on flow rate.

I have no tools to measure, but clarity is night and day. Cleaning glass for me is delayed by a couple days.

Just fyi. Uv will do nothing for cyano algae. Only brown green algae.

Yeh, I use one on the pond. Water crystal clear but macro grows over everything else, which is cool

 

[Michelle Conabere]

Depends on how good your uv is and condition of aquarium. The more dwell time the better the quality depending on flow rate.

I have no tools to measure, but clarity is night and day. Cleaning glass for me is delayed by a couple days.

Just fyi. Uv will do nothing for cyano algae. Only brown green algae.

Thank you all information is being taken note of.

 

[SPR1968]

Thank you so much for that information. I just need to find out what flow rate my pump is. How do I find that out?

Your more than welcome Michelle

As already said above I think, find the power of the UVC and then adjust the pump so that you get the correct flow rate at the output end. I used a 1 litre jug and a timer, a bit basic but it will give you a fairly accurate flow rate.

As a guide I have a 20w UVC and run an Eheim 1000 pump at roughly half power to get the flow rate

Another point UVC tend to be very bulky, but get the most powerful one you can that will fit wherever your putting it then you have more killing power