So a LOOOOOONG time ago I was gifted a emperor 40w UV after it got wet and the ballast fried and the bulb exploded and cracked the sleeve. So I decided to DIY it back together and put it on my QT tank. I found a 40w t5 ballast for $25, new off brand bulb for $35 and new sleeve for $40. $100 for a 40w UV not bad at all. Just looked a bit DIY.
That lasted about 2 years of on off operation before the bulb blew and the ballast stopped working. With my upcoming move I will be needing a UV for the temporary setup and decided to get this thing working again but with actual emperor parts.
Hop on amazon and its easy to find the parts. 40w Power supply $100, emperor bulb $62, sleeve $40. So $200 and I have a brand new Emperor UV. Sweet!
Then I noticed something. Hey the 80w High output bulb is the same size as the 40w. Hell same sleeve size too. Oh no, plotting begins. A new search turns up....a 80w power supply $130, emperor 80w bulb $83, sleeve $40....So $250 for the 80w parts. A $50 upgrade to go from a 40w UV to a 80w UV. (FYI the off brand bulbs are $34 for the 40w and $42 for the 80w if youre wondering)
ORDER.
So the bulbs are in fact not the same size....hmm
But the 80w bulb fits in the sleeve just fine...ok (note the cracked sleeve, new one is coming)
Ok on to the power supply, this is a bit more hefty than the other one.
Plugs are the same ,but the adapters are different sizes. The 80w is 1" the 40w is 3/4". No problem Ill just swap them. And the plug doesnt fit through the hole. Figures, and I was hoping to get through this without any wiring.
Wires clipped, adapter found and it fits!
Reattaching wires.
Everything fits and we have an 80w UV!
Now its worth noting that while I was waiting for the stuff to arrive I did some research. Reading the Emperor manual to get the flow rates, they list flow rates for up to 180,000 units but to kill ich you need to 330,000, so take their min flow rate and cut it in half. Turns out the rated flow rate for killing ich with the 40w is only 50 GPM, thats crap and why I recommend a 40w as a minimum size for any aquarium. The flow rate to kill ich with the 80w is 200 GPM. Now thats cooking! So right there we have a 4x increase in usable flow for $50.
I didnt do any comparisons for other UV sizes to see if a HO version is available but this certainly opens some doors for retrofits.
So someone as nerdy as I am will probably point out that the reaction chamber on the 40w is 2" but the 80w its 3.5". FYI the newer 40w ones are 3". Looks like I will have to do some adjustments to the flow rates based on the chamber volumes. Which I will certainly do as soon as Im sober enough to do math lol.
That lasted about 2 years of on off operation before the bulb blew and the ballast stopped working. With my upcoming move I will be needing a UV for the temporary setup and decided to get this thing working again but with actual emperor parts.
Hop on amazon and its easy to find the parts. 40w Power supply $100, emperor bulb $62, sleeve $40. So $200 and I have a brand new Emperor UV. Sweet!
Then I noticed something. Hey the 80w High output bulb is the same size as the 40w. Hell same sleeve size too. Oh no, plotting begins. A new search turns up....a 80w power supply $130, emperor 80w bulb $83, sleeve $40....So $250 for the 80w parts. A $50 upgrade to go from a 40w UV to a 80w UV. (FYI the off brand bulbs are $34 for the 40w and $42 for the 80w if youre wondering)
ORDER.
So the bulbs are in fact not the same size....hmm
But the 80w bulb fits in the sleeve just fine...ok (note the cracked sleeve, new one is coming)
Ok on to the power supply, this is a bit more hefty than the other one.
Plugs are the same ,but the adapters are different sizes. The 80w is 1" the 40w is 3/4". No problem Ill just swap them. And the plug doesnt fit through the hole. Figures, and I was hoping to get through this without any wiring.
Wires clipped, adapter found and it fits!
Reattaching wires.
Everything fits and we have an 80w UV!
Now its worth noting that while I was waiting for the stuff to arrive I did some research. Reading the Emperor manual to get the flow rates, they list flow rates for up to 180,000 units but to kill ich you need to 330,000, so take their min flow rate and cut it in half. Turns out the rated flow rate for killing ich with the 40w is only 50 GPM, thats crap and why I recommend a 40w as a minimum size for any aquarium. The flow rate to kill ich with the 80w is 200 GPM. Now thats cooking! So right there we have a 4x increase in usable flow for $50.
I didnt do any comparisons for other UV sizes to see if a HO version is available but this certainly opens some doors for retrofits.
So someone as nerdy as I am will probably point out that the reaction chamber on the 40w is 2" but the 80w its 3.5". FYI the newer 40w ones are 3". Looks like I will have to do some adjustments to the flow rates based on the chamber volumes. Which I will certainly do as soon as Im sober enough to do math lol.