UV not clearing water

[newsalt]

I have an 18w Coralife UV Sterilizer on my 180g FOWLR tank. Upstream of the UV I have a 5 micron cartridge filter. The UV is just not clearing the water. I'm running the water at 110 gph through the UV. The display tank has a lot of particles floating in it. I know the sifting goby isn't helping, but even with a filter sock it wasn't clearing. Any ideas what the problem could be?

Thanks

 

[C Dog]

I'm pretty sure the UV is t for cleaning the water if the particles. It just kills stuff. The goby is probably stirring things up

 

[Mr. Demeanor]

Sure its not micro bubbles?

 

[Mr. Bill]

How much flow do you have in the DT? How fine is your sand? How old is the tank?

FWIW, UV doesn't clean water, it sterilizes bacteriums and microbes to prevent reproduction. Also, the 5 micron cartridge might not be fine enough to catch the suspended particulates.

And yes, you are correct- the Goby isn't helping.

 

[newsalt]

Not really sure how much flow I have in my tank. I have to MP40s running on Reef Crest mode, 2 Tunze NanoStream 6055 and whatever the return pump is putting out. The tank is 4 years old, but I lost everything during Hurricane Sandy. I restarted the tank in Nov of 2012, so I guess it would be considered 3 mon. old.

I had a 0.5 micron cartridge, and it got dirty too quick, so I changed to a 5 micron. Even the 5 micron has to be changed every three days or so.

How much flow do you have in the DT? How fine is your sand? How old is the tank?

FWIW, UV doesn't clean water, it sterilizes bacteriums and microbes to prevent reproduction. Also, the 5 micron cartridge might not be fine enough to catch the suspended particulates.

And yes, you are correct- the Goby isn't helping.

 

[solitude]

Try running some active carbon.

 

[moogoomoogoo]

I would try turning everything off for an hour or two to see if it settles.

 

[newsalt]

Try running some active carbon.

I run carbon. Not due to change it for a week or so.

 

[wooden_reefer]

I'm pretty sure the UV is t for cleaning the water if the particles. It just kills stuff. The goby is probably stirring things up

Plus if the water is not clear the UV penetrates less and kill less.

Cause and effective seem reversed.

 

[NYCBOB]

uv only clears green water caused by algae. if u have sand particles in the water, uv wont help one bit.

 

[DHyslop]

As mentioned, UV can kill living things that pass through it but does not remove particulates from the water: if the water is cloudy green with suspended algae, the UV may kill it, but it's more effective to address the root cause of why algae is growing to begin with (unhealthy amount of nutrients in the water). Also, an 18w UV on a 180 gallon system is like trying to bake a cake with a cigarette lighter.