uv flow

[rossi]

High I want too come off my return pump with a tee and a valve to feed my
uv Can you run too little flow thru a uv? thank you.

 

[lapin]

No, unless you have no water in the chamber to cool the bulb. The UV unit should have a max that can be fed thru it and still remain effective for different organisms. It has a max pressure that the unit can handle before it cracks and leaks.

 

[VoltzNSalt]

Supposedly lower flow is for parasite control and higher is for algae. I feed mine coming off a manifold from my return pump and have it set so that it by no means gushes out but doesn't trickle either - just a nice easy, steady flow...

 

[Dmorty217]

What are you trying to accomplish with a UV is the first question? They are best used for water clarity. If you want to control disease you need more watts... like 3-5w per gallon. Powerful one will heat the tank water up too

 

[rossi]

uv flow

Thanks for the info, im using it for disease control my uv is a 40watt.

 

[Dmorty217]

Thanks for the info, im using it for disease control my uv is a 40watt.

What size tank?

 

[lapin]

Here is an example of suggested flow rates for a 40 Watt SMART UV Sterilizer

Aquarium Size Max 260 gal.
Water Flow Rate Algae and Bacteria 30,000 µWs/cm² ........... 943 GPH/1574 GPH
Water Flow Rate Protozoa 180,000 µWs/cm² ....................... 157 GPH/262 GPH

 

[rossi]

uv flow

I have 65 gal tank with a 40watt uv. Is ich only free swimming in the dark
should uv only be on at night? thank you

 

[lapin]

UV works only against Ich in it's free floating/swimming form. You have to pass the entire volume of the water through the UV at a minimum of once an hour. You need a UV unit will give you 65GPH at a 180,000 microwatt dose. (measure of uv). This is the required dose for Ich. If you "T" off you are not passing all the water thru the UV. The UV unit will help but will not totally rid your tank of Ich, even with all the water passing thru it. You should run it 24/7.

 

[elFloyd]

I believe for ich you need 330,000 microvolts.

 

[lapin]

I stand corrected, I quoted freshwater Ich

UV doses required for Cryptocaryon irritans (saltwater Ich) are anecdotal or extrapolated, and range from 280,000 µWsec/cm2 (industry numbers) to 800,000 µWsec/cm2 (Colorni and Burgess 1997).

 

[elFloyd]

^^^^^^^^^^. That!

 

[Dmorty217]

Again, you aren't going to be able to use a UV to cure the tank of ich. Anything UV that stands any chance of doing this will heat your tank up to the point of killing the inhabitants without a chiller. If you don't want ich, the only way to ensure that is through proper QT practice. There have been countless others who have tried using UV to treat a tank with ich, it didn't work. A UV can help with ich but will not cure it in a tank, unless it is vastly oversized then there are other problems associated with that