UV 80 Watt Emperor Aquatics - Review, plumbing and effects to Reef Aquarium

[rldcpa]

I wonder how long should you wait to clean the quartz insert. The instructions say check it every 3 months.

Changing the bulb is easy and I think you do that once a year.

The quartz tube should not be too bad other than you have to drain out the water first, take out the tube, clean it, and put it back.

The gasket has to replace annually too per the instructions.

 

[jjk_reef00]

this is the reason why i have it on a bracket with one side higher than the other so that when you turn off the pump the water flushes back into the sump and allows you to remove the quartz without getting the floor wet.

Is there any problem if the pump goes out and the uv is running without water?

Anyone have any pics of how they mounted their UV?

 

[GatorAlum05]

Are you suggesting the water is a buffer for the housing? Under emperor aquatics they have lifetime warranty on the housing so i doubt it will be affected when uv is running eithout water over a long Period. clean the quartz out once a month during my water change with one side of the bracket higher than the other was smartest thing I've done for my uv unit. No leaks.

 

[saltwatershark]

My apologies but I know I promised pics of the UV but I didn't make as much progress as I had hoped last night. Anyhow what you can see is the sump (240 gal), the reservoirs (150 gal each), acclimation tank (29 gal), water changing system and neptune electronics. The UV is on top of the rack but not yet plumbed. I'll mount it horizontally across the top. I've been oscillating between using gate valves or ball valves with the UV bypass and while I think gate valves theoretically make a lot more sense the ball valves turn so much easier ( I bought the best of both -- cepex and spears-- and the difference is remarkable). Anyhow, I spent the better part of last night fiddling with the AT0 system but I promise I'll post the UV configuration this evening. RhSmith, you asked about the skimmer. It hasn't arrived yet but it's the Orca Pro 3 by My Reef Creations (external). All of my reactors including ozone are external.

 

[saltwatershark]

So these pictures really are no good but a promise is a promise. You are looking up the commercial rack from the bottom -- the UV is on top, horizontally placed. I know these pics are no good, so I'll get out the step ladder this weekend and take better ones.

 

[saltwatershark]

So these pictures really are no good but a promise is a promise. You are looking up the commercial rack from the bottom -- the UV is on top, horizontally placed. I know these pics are no good, so I'll get out the step ladder this weekend and take better ones.

 

[saltwatershark]

Attached are 3 photos, hopefully this time they'll attach (apologies for my previous unsuccessful attempts). Anyhow, 3 of the 4 pics come from the Emperor Aquatics manual--2 plumbing configurations and a flow rate chart. The forth pic is my partial plumbing job on the 150 watt. I recommend plumbing in the bypass option (the diagram having the additional pvc pipe). This way you can leave the pump on while servicing your sterilizer. Please note the recommended flow rates in the chart. There are a recommended and maximum flow rate depending on 2 scenarios: (1) algae killing; or (2) protozoa (and algae) killing. The second option requires lower flow. I'm going with the first scenario but will throttle the system back in case of a parasite or bacterial outbreak.

I hope this is helpful.

 

[mhsmith]

Hi Saltwatershark. I couldn't see the pictures that you had with tapatalk. I did look at the Orca Skimmer and that looks like a nice skimmer. I will need to purchase one for my set up and I want one that is more "hands off" but works well. Could the outflow of the skimmer be run to the UV lights and then return to the return area of the sump, or would there be a problem with to much or to little flow for that?

 

[saltwatershark]

Mhsmith: apologies for the poor pics. Let me repost:

One is a pic of my UV and another is a schematic from the manual that came with. I haven't plumped my UV into the return line because I am still debating over a horizontal versus vertical installation.

Regarding the Orca, and generally for all external skimmers, the virtually unanimous consensus is to have no (or minimal) back pressure on the line returning from the skimmer because that impairs skimmer performance. Especially with a high unit like an Orca you really don't want to slow it down at all.

Now if you meant running the pump line into uv then running the uv line out into the skimmer I think that is possible but also not optimal. The reason is that you want to run dirty water into the skimmer and "clean" (ie, post sump) water into the UV. That prevents unwanted buildup in the UV which will prevent premature degradation to the UV.

Does this help?

 

[mhsmith]

Yes thank you much. I am thinking I will need to just run my uv's on a closed loop probably from my sump after the skimmer and then dump it into the return area or into the refugium if I decide to do one. I appreciate your help.

 

[saltwatershark]

My pleasure. One thing to consider: is there anyway to run your sump return line (back to the DT) through the UV? The reason I ask is ray you will avoid recirculating the same water through the UV over and over.

One other thing is make sure you know what the UV manufacturer recommends interns of flow rate through the UV. Typically there are 2 measures-- one rate that kills algae and another rate that kills bacteria, disease, Protozoa, etc. it's all based on dwell/exposure time. I've provided emperor's flow rate recommendations for there high output smart UV system her (other units may differ):

 

[saltwatershark]

Sorry for typos and upside down pics-- I'm on my iPhone

 

[rbarn]

For the 80W HO unit you have running at 250gph you are getting true pathogen killing exposure. Parasites like Ich and other free floaters will be exterminated. You even have enough exposure to kill virus and protozoa.

You need to clean the crystal off about every other month or so, and make sure you change the bulb religiously every 12 months. After that the bulb is toast.

 

[mhsmith]

That's currently what I'm doing now. If I choose not to do the refugium I can do that otherwise if I do the refugium I would let the slower flow go into the refugium Because of other suggestions of a closed loop for the pump connected to my diverter I think my second pump may have to much flow for my uv's. The second pump I'm using is a Hammerhead. I have still not determined how I will do the closed loop however.

 

[saltwatershark]

I'm feeding my UV with the hammerhead gold, no problem. On the plumbing configuration (see my pics above) you can control how much water goes through the UV and how much gets bypassed-- you have to plumb on a bypass line.

 

[mhsmith]

i must be computer illiterate because I can't figure how to see your photos on tapatalk. Sorry,

 

[saltwatershark]

You know what, a couple others have said the same thing about my photos. I'm going to have to figure it because on my thread (715 gallon build) I've provided a bunch of pics. I can email them to you if you like.

 

[mhsmith]

That would be great. I went to your thread and could see the photos but I thought it was because I was on my phone, however when I went to this thread I couldn't even on my phone. On my computer on this thread I can't see anything. I even joined tapatalk, but I guess I'm missing something. Sorry. If you could e-mail me that would be great. I was hoping to order my custom tank before I went on vacation next week, but it's not going to happen. I now am trying to decide if I should add a closed loop. I also am trying to decide if I should just drain my external overflows, and not worry about the herbie overflow system within each external overflow. It would be alot easier with plumbing. Thanks for your help.

 

[jjk_reef00]

Post them on photobucket and then just paste the image link into the reply text.

 

[rldcpa]

Update on what the UV has done for my tank.

3-4 months ago I had an event and lost 1/2 my fish 20 of 40 of which almost all were the smaller fish. I bought the UV unit partially to protect my fish from future bacteria and/or disease outbreaks and also to make my water even clearer. After the deaths the tank stabilized and all the fish were fine except for the 3 surviving Chromis which never got back to normal. The were always at the top, ate little and were inactive. They stayed alive for months but just were not doing that well. They were not gasping for air.

After about 45 I bought a UV to see if it would help the Chromis and also to make my water even clearer. The water got clearer but no other immediate effect.

After about 45 days of running the UV, the Chromis got better. They are more active, eating better and swim around a lot more.

I believe the UV has killed either bacteria or some disease that was affecting the smaller fish like the Chromis. I am not saying that a UV can kill all diseases in a tank, but it will kill all disease that go through the unit.

So the UV looks like it is a great addition to a reef aquarium and it has not hurt my corals at all as they are growing nicely.

Also the effects of the UV was that my water went from fairly clear to crystal clear. It is incredible how clear a UV will make your tank.