U/V Sterelizers.

[Dave ESPI]

U/V has been aroud fer more than 100 years + From Water filtration, to Air quality, to Plastic enamel - lamenation and amalagmation of dental fillers , its a tried and proven way to seal microbial issues in may ways. SO; Why has it fallen out of Favor in use in reefs?

Perhaps its just a trend that people just follow like cattle...... Blindly ignoring what lies infront of them, yet plodding on towards certain problems. SO here it is in a nut shell. ( Excerpted from ESPI'S book to be)

 

Water applications intended, U / V or Ultra Violet radiation, is transfered at a lower angstrom in a fluid medium. Germicicaly speeking, its an irridacator due to bombardment of ultra intense light and gamma radiation in a small scale environment. Low pressure Mercury vapor are most suitable fer this purpose, but some other hugher intensity lamps are used by some companies. (all they do is shorten the life of the bulb and cost U more to replace more frequently).

HOW IT WORKS:

Durring operation, a transformer converts wall AC amperage to a lamp... in which an "ARC" is formed by the mercury vapors held inside of the tube. A By-product of this process is what we call Ultraviolet Light. At around 250 - 280 nM (nano-Meters) the light wavelength is able to destroy water borne pathogens that pass over the crystal shield within the filter housing at a pre-set rate of flow dirrectly related to the wattage of the bulb. Contact time with the light is cruitial, and too fast of a flow will render the lamp ineffective to a degree.

HERE IS THE KICKER:

On (for example) an 5 IL ( measure of kill lighting) or 18 Watt Low -Pressure bulb, it will only out put 5 watts of total exposure .... or 1/3 of the total watts needed to operate the light.

No mater what the Manufacture says, the greater the ARC lenght, the better the exposure time it has to erradicate the bad.... and occasionaly the good also.

FOR EXAMPLE: compare the bulb catagorized as : TUVPLL18 W { 18 Watts, 195 mm Long, 5.5 watt output)to the GPH357T5 { 14 watt , 357 MM long Out put of 3.5 watts}.

They are BOTH in the 250 -280 NM range, BUT the GPH lamp is considerably longer. Thus the 14 water is more effective. MANY PC bulb manufactures are pushing small units designed fer todays small reefs, BUT smaller (yet Brighter) is not better.

A PURE QUARTZ SLEEVE is essential. there a LOT of cheep U/V lights on the market...... dont be a sucker.

There is a differance between a "Clarifier" and a "Sterelizer"

FLOW RATE is key and determining the "target " Organizims you wish to destroy is necessary before contemplating if a U/V is necesary or if it warrants full time useage on a particular tank.

 

IME, I use a U/V when hooked on a back side split off return that can be ball - valved off as an alternate route fer water return when new additions to a tank are done, pre-water changes, and as a HIGH FLOW bypass for clarification purposes. On average fer like a week per month intermitantly.

 

The espablished U/V controll exposure rate for Unicelliular algae controll is 22,000 UW-sec/cm2.

Water turbidity and presence of excessive protiens can hamper U/V usage as the protiens can coat the surfaces of the quarts and the pathogens can "lurk" and slide through if the flow/contact time is to short. I recommend an 8 IL unit ( Aquanetics makes an excent in line unit) for tanks less than 75 gallons and a flow rate of less than 125 GPH on a dedicated system w/ a Powerhead or on the return line of a Canister filter, Sump return, or Skimmer /in sump supply to return line, as they can be turned on or off by simply umpluging the ballast (which is often incorporated in the plug) as a method of regulatory adjustment.

 

MORE TO BE UPDATED IN MY BOOK.

[Gilman]

Thanks Dave,

 

Good reading. Made UV ez 2 understand.

 

Gil

[tinyreef]

i've always thought the UV is out of vogue because of the concept of planktonic feedings. adey's been a big influence on my reefkeeping and his emphasis on a holistic system is how i try to keep my tanks. :

 

the environment we're trying to replicate is pristine in water quality but teeming with planktonic life that is constantly being preyed upon by the livestock we 'feed' in our tanks. i believe that's the major reason 'difficult' corals and such fail in captive systems. the inability to truly replicate the water quality (in the biological diversity sense) like the actual reefs or open waters.

 

it's a fine line of keeping the system 'clean enough' or having it polluted by microorganisms ime. anyway that's why i don't use a uv.

 

dave,

is that section gonna be in the basic setup or 'don't be a sucker' chapter? don't forget to have a picture chapter. pics always help sell a book.

[gobies]

> A PURE QUARTZ SLEEVE is essential.

Why?

 

 

Also -- comments on the effectiveness of the use of whatever to make the water flow spiral around the bulb and increase contact time?

[Dave ESPI]

PURE QUARTZ will not diffract the U/V light like a regular piece of glass will....Hence "cover glass U/V shield" on halide fixtures as U/V P.A.R. protection

 

Tiny, Im not saying that U/V wont remove some of the benificial bacteria and microscopic animals in a reef tanks, BUT there is merit to using U/V ass a supplemental device to ensure water quality at times.

I personaly have a 8 IL unit on a 150 GPH canister filter on my 40 long for times of "supplemental" security durring "New additions" and a 4 IL on a diatom return line I use to make my Customer tanks "Sparkle" after a w/c or having stirred detritus in a tank. FWIW, the sterilizer has a great many bennefits in a FO, or FOWLR setup where people with a high fish to biota content ratio is constantly in fluctuation (or are constantly replacing fish) with the added peace of mind knowing there is a "secret agent" working to erradicate the " Scumbags" who like to create havoc in a tank when yer guard is down, and fish are at stress levels due to lowered immune systems from captive environment.

Just my take on it. Its worked well for near to a hundred years, and its solved many a problems on tanks in the past.

[tinyreef]

oh, i definitely agree. if i had FO or FOWLR i'd definitely have a UV (almost mandatory in those system imo). for the viral and bacterial issues. :x

 

i wasn't knocking ya. i've seen many people i admire use uv's on great systems. i was just putting another perspective on.

 

adey's teachings are not popular by many people anyway (at least that's what i've seen lately). i think many people think he emphasized the planktonic issue with the centrifugal pumps. i don't read him like that though. it's more of a single aspect he happened to mention for the whole mini-ecosystem imo.

[Lunchbucket]

nice man!! over my head. i just don't see a need for them.

 

Lunchbucket

[gobies]

I don't think there's a "need" for them --on a constant basis-- if you have a small nano or very few fish. If you have a larger nano, however, or a high fish load, they can be a very good "insurance" system to deal with potential problems.

 

I've been considering getting one of these for a while for my fw and brackish tanks (most of them are <30g). I'd rotate the UV from one tank to another as a disease preventative.

 

If/when we finally get space and a fowlr setup, I'm *definitely* getting one. I want a porcupine puffer and a hippo tang, and my husband wants a lionfish. Puffers are too dang sensitive to copper, hippos are ich magnets, and either the puff or the lionfish would probably eat any cleaner critters. I think a UV setup would be necessary for that tank.

[flaunt]

no offense, dave, but if you're going to write a book you'll need to start using a spellchecker...

[Dave ESPI]

WELL... I am SOOOOOORRRRRRUUUEEEEEE !

I wont enter any spelling bees any time soon.

Problem is I get typing so fast to keep up with my mind, that I ferget to hit "Spiel Chekier" and the words dont get fixed. Thats fer an Editor. HAHAH

Ill try to rememvebver to spiell bettah in teh futierue.

[Lunchbucket]

don't worry dave i do the same dang thing. i am the worlds worst speller. heck i get going faster than i can write and i forget letters. shorthand i guess

 

Lunchbucket

[printerdown01]

Love the thread! If I knew enough I would through my hat in the ring ... But when it comes to U/V sterilizers I'm a newbie, lol. What are the effects of animals that actually filter feed on bacterial plankton (I do not know of any that SOLEY rely on bacterial plankton, but rather will feed on it too)? Does anyone notice a need to compensate with phyto in these circumstances?

[sci33]

Although there are different opinions on using UV sterilizers with reef tanks, having one plumbed to your quarantine tank (for those who have them) seems like a good idea.

[Joe]

I have had some personal experiece with UV sterilizers. I had a 55 that was always plagued with cyannobacteria red slime and a green hair algae, bubble algae and black bacteria. I was mad because I lost alot of corals at that time. Constently doing waterchanges to combat algae and slime problems. One day I got mad and almost took down the 55. I instead bought a small UV sterilizer and plumbed it with a small powerhead from my sump. 3 days later EVERYTHING was looking 150 percent better. the corals I had left were actually opening up and things weren't covered with a 1/4 inch of slime. It distroyed EVERYTHING THAT WAS BAD!!! They are amazing. Nowadays though I have found ez ways to prevent red slime and get rid of it too. but back in the days before alot of information was publicly avilable to common reefkeepers UV sterilizers were a lifesaver.

 

well that is my experience of a UV sterilizer.

 

Joe

[Dave ESPI]

Printer I turn my U/V off when dosing phyto and I dont run them all the time. They will cause water to be fouled if ya do after dosing. I use U/V as a supplemental means of cleaning my tnaks at times. And Yeah cyano HATES U/V and Ozone too !

 

A usefull link.... Aquanetics products. I REALLY rely and stand by them.

 

http://www.aquanetics.com/search_results.a...Search&iLevel=1