Who uses UV?!

[rbraunberger]

hello all

Who uses UV on their systems? What are you thoughts? Worth the money? Brands you trust and that hold up well? Advice setting up on a new build? Thanks!

 

[hybridazn]

I run uv and I like it, it def helps keep the water nice and clear. I'm a huge fan of the emperor aquatics uv.

 

[Peanut]

I run mine, but at night only. Let's me manage the heat better.

 

[Lowstorm]

I'm using mine. I had a horrible bacterial bloom. It cleared it up. Three days and it was better. Now it's been a week and it's cleared completely. Totally worth it. I don't know if I'll continue to run it. I might. Its just a cheapo from Amazon. Plug and play. 13 Watts.

 

[rbraunberger]

Anyone have problems killing all the pods off from you refugium? Wife wants a mandarin and don't want to be killing its food off

 

[duckdodgers]

No it fine i actually housed a fish down there for a while just for them to eat them and not have to fight the larger fish for the pods

 

[rbraunberger]

How do you set up the plumbing? I have seen setup with an extra pump and flex tubing, but I was wanting to hard plumb in and maybe run a splitter off the return line then split back into the line.

 

[Lowstorm]

Mines a stand alone. Dropped it in, plugged it in, all done

 

[FlyinBryan]

I had one but it took up way too much room. I really didn't see any benefit to it. My fish have been ick (sp?) free for years!

 

[dwebb1031]

Keep mine in the display lack of room in the small sump. have for almost two years run it 24/7 and got it on Amazon for like 25-30$

 

[M3ace9]

I run my turbo twist 24/7. I really appreciate the fact that if slows down the growth of coralline algae tenfold. I had the bulb die a few months back and noticed only from the annoying rapid growth of coralline all over my front panel. In addition the water stays clearer and is suppose to kill some of the microscopic algae. Oh and I have had a mandarin for about 2 years and she has grown from a tiny baby. I don't believe the uv affects the post population.

 

[sc50964]

I use turbo twists on all my tanks. I find it effective as long as I configure it correctly and change light bulb at least once a year.

It's important to know a few things before you go off and buy an UV system. First of all, you need to know what you are trying to treat. UV can kill off algae that's free floating in the water, and it can also kill off bacteria and parasites. Each UV has different flow rate requirement for different target, and these flow requirements would vary between different wattage of the same brand and are certainly different for different brands. Second of all, after you know what to target with your UV, you need to decide where in your aquarium to place the UV, based on whether or not there is enough room to have a dedicated flow source for the UV, the in-sump UV light itself and all the necessary hard and/or flexible plumbing. The dedicated flow can be a split off from a manifold that's hooked up to a return pump, or it can be an extra pump. You may also need to have a device, such as a ball valve, to have some sort of control over the flow rate. You may not have enough space inside the sump or inside your tank to fit an UV unit, so your focus should either be the HOB type of UVs or ones that can be bolted to a fixture and plumbed externally. Lastly, you most certainly want to buy from a reputable brand that knows what they are doing. It's important to find out how much the replacement bulbs cost ahead of time so you know what you're getting yourself into.

The AIO unit that is the plug n play type is one is l would avoid simply because the lack of controllability over flow rate.

 

[DamianOZ]

I run UV 24/7 if OPR < 340 and temp < 27 Deg C
25W Emperor Aquatics, system volume = 170L (45g)

My mandarin is fat

 

[p.pep85]

i have a small sump so i bought a sun sun canister filter with a uv light built in ripped the guts out so all that was left was the light i like the added water volume plus uv. keeps everything clean i only run the light for a day after my bi weekly water change.

 

[FarmerTy]

I ran a AquaUV 57-watt UV on my 215-gallon for years. Great investment. I ran it 24/7.

Agreed with above, don't just run and buy any UV. Flowrate going through it is very important pending on what you want to achieve. If you are just clarifying the water, almost any unit will do to clear algae and kill some bacteria. If you want to do Level 1 or Level 2 sterilization, careful calculation is needed to size the appropriate unit. Level 2 sterilization will kill marine protists (ich).

 

[FarmerTy]

For optimum setup to kill ich, I've found it best to have its own independent pump, set at the bottom of the DT behind some rocks, and the return line back into the DT behind rocks on the other side of the tank. When I ran it plumbed into my sump, it was ineffective against ich. My deduction is that ich tends to hang out in the lower portions of the water column where it hatches from its encysted tomont stage and attacks the fish when they sleep in the rocks. Traditional saltwater tanks have their overflows at the top of the water column so the ich trophonts (free swimming stage) will rarely get pulled into the sump. I've witnessed a powder blue tang (the canary for ich) living in my sump for 3 months with no ich while my DT had it above. The minute the powder blue was placed in the DT with no stressors (he was not chased), he broke out immediately. My two theories are the ich stay in the lower levels of the tank and the high flute in the sump prevented ich from attaching to him. I've since then plumbed my UV directly in by DT with the intake and return behind the rocks at the bottom of the DT. I've also stopped doing the lower flow at night and keep my flow fast all day long.

 

[NeptuneGarden]

Depends on what you want the UV to do.
Most installations are useless beyond controlling bacteria blooms..... i.e., pretty much every example listed here so far.

If you want to help control green water and/or bacteria blooms, then the smaller units work fine ..... but I think it is more of a band aid, then proper aquarium care.

If done right, i.e., go big or go home, you can greatly reduce the chance of an outbreak of Ich or any number of water born pathogens, parasites, or viruses.

Brands: Emperor Aquatics or W.Lim Products. ........ I like the W.Lim units because they put a union on the main bulb housing which allows the inlet and outlet ports to be rotated in relation to each other and you can completely open the case for cleaning.

Installation: Water contact time with bulb, thickness of water column next to the bulb, water clarity, bulb life ..... are all important factors.


What size tank are you wanting to put it on ?
What are your expectations and hopes ?

 

[rbraunberger]

I ran a AquaUV 57-watt UV on my 215-gallon for years. Great investment. I ran it 24/7.

Agreed with above, don't just run and buy any UV. Flowrate going through it is very important pending on what you want to achieve. If you are just clarifying the water, almost any unit will do to clear algae and kill some bacteria. If you want to do Level 1 or Level 2 sterilization, careful calculation is needed to size the appropriate unit. Level 2 sterilization will kill marine protists (ich).

Thanks everyone for the replies! Ich was my target for killing stuff off. Have lost some nice fish to it and have not had good luck removing fish to hospital tank and treating. I have RedSea Reefer 525 so believe I have room. I would really like to run off of my return line with a ball value to control flow.

I see a lot of people liking the Empior Aquatics brand. I have seen people posting about having a lot of problems with the power supplies? This true in your experiences too? Thanks!

 

[rbraunberger]

For optimum setup to kill ich, I've found it best to have its own independent pump, set at the bottom of the DT behind some rocks, and the return line back into the DT behind rocks on the other side of the tank. When I ran it plumbed into my sump, it was ineffective against ich. My deduction is that ich tends to hang out in the lower portions of the water column where it hatches from its encysted tomont stage and attacks the fish when they sleep in the rocks. Traditional saltwater tanks have their overflows at the top of the water column so the ich trophonts (free swimming stage) will rarely get pulled into the sump. I've witnessed a powder blue tang (the canary for ich) living in my sump for 3 months with no ich while my DT had it above. The minute the powder blue was placed in the DT with no stressors (he was not chased), he broke out immediately. My two theories are the ich stay in the lower levels of the tank and the high flute in the sump prevented ich from attaching to him. I've since then plumbed my UV directly in by DT with the intake and return behind the rocks at the bottom of the DT. I've also stopped doing the lower flow at night and keep my flow fast all day long.

With the Reefer it may be hard to plumb it in tank, but high flow with no dead spots is a priority of mine. I am going to be running 4 waves and I like your suggestion of not dropping the flow at night.

 

[NeptuneGarden]

Running off the return pump split is fine but it's important to put a flow meter on it to know exactly how much water you are putting through it.

Power supplies on all of them are prone to failure over time. At the end of the day it's just a flourescent light bulb power supply, and those always fail after a few years.
The money and engineering is in the housing, inner crystal sleeve and bulb.

Remember there are two kinds of "Ich". Velvet and Ich get commonly mistaken for each other.

Most UV sizing charts are set to deliver 180,000.
To kill marine Ich you need 280,000 exposure.

As you can see below, pretty much everything but Ich and Velvet are easy to kill.

For a 525 gallon I would do a single 80w HO running 500gph as a minimum.
Better would be a pair of 80W HO or single W.Lim 115w HO at 600-700gph.

On my 300gal discus tank I had (really sensitive fish) I plumbed (4x) 40W UV's in series at 400gph to maximize UV exposure time and turn over.

UV Sterilization Dosages
Type
Name
UV Dosage
Algae Chlorella Vulgaris 22,000
Bacteria Aeromonas Salmonicida 3,620
Bacteria Pseudomonas Fluorescens (fin rot) 11,000
Bacteria Bacilus Subtilus (spores) 22,000
Fungi Saprolengnia (zoo spores) 39,600
Protozoa Sarcina Lutea 26,400
Protozoa Ceratomyxa Shasta 30,000
Protozoa Trichodina Sp. 35,000
Protozoa Myxobolus Cerebralis (Whirling Disease) 40,000
Protozoa Ichthyophthirius Tomites (freshwater ich) 100,000
Protozoa Amyloodinium Ocellateum (marine velvet) 105,000
Protozoa Trichodina Nigra 159,000
Protozoa Cryptocaryon Irritans (marine white spot) 280,000
Protozoa Costia Necatrix 318,000
Virus KHV (koi herpes virus) 4,000
Virus CCV (channel catfish virus) 20,000
Virus IHNV (infectius hematopoietic necrosis) 20,000
Virus OMV (oncorhynchus masou virus) 20,000
Virus IHNV 30,000
Virus VHS (viral haemorrhagic septicaemia) 32,000
Virus CSV (chum salmon virus) 100,000
Virus IPNV (infectius pancreatic necrosis virus) 150,000