Too much UV?

[farnorth]

I am trying to hook up my UV to my system and have a question. I have a 90 gallon + 30 gal sump. I got a 18w turbo twist UV, that says it treats up to 250 gal.
I am wondering if I should/could hook it up to where my sump returns the water to my tank, that way all of the water is going through my UV or if I should just hook it up to a powerhead. If I do just hook it up to a powerhead should/could I put it in the sump or does it need to be in the main tank to effectively treat the water?
I am concerned that if I put too much water through the UV, then maybe it will kill off good parasites as well for my tank.

 

[lazypinoy]

yeah i kno what u mean. i have 2 uv's at the return pump section connected to an indivual pump. the ich didnt get under control as my previous tank did when i placed a pump directily to the MT with a uv. so now i have 1 gamma 25 uv and a resun 9watt uv intsalled in the sump and about to get maybe 2 jbj submariners 7 watt uv in the MT. thats a total of 4 uvs!
if u hook it up to ur return pump, the water would be going through the uv to fast and would be ineeffective against parasites if that is what ur purpose for the uv but im not sure what the recomeneded gph is on the turbotwist 36. if ur return pump falls within the recomened gph then it would be fine. BUT i discover that placing a uv in the sump isnt as effective as a uv installed in the MT. Why? because ich usually doesnt go to the surface where the water ends in the sump. it usually is in the low and middle part of ur tank when its in the free floating stage.
So in my opinion a uv in the MT would be more effective.
and i see ur concerned about killing beneficial organisms to uv. well you should kno that those tiny organisms usually come out at night so if u really care about them u can turn the uv off during the night and on during the day. u can maybe even sett the uv with ur light timmers if u have one.

 

[farnorth]

Thanks that is a lot of good info. Well I think I will just hook it up to an aqua clear 70 in the main tank. If you have 4 running on yours, I am sure 1 will not be overkill!

 

[salt creep]

Originally Posted by farnorth
I am trying to hook up my UV to my system and have a question. I have a 90 gallon + 30 gal sump. I got a 18w turbo twist UV, that says it treats up to 250 gal.
I am wondering if I should/could hook it up to where my sump returns the water to my tank, that way all of the water is going through my UV or if I should just hook it up to a powerhead. If I do just hook it up to a powerhead should/could I put it in the sump or does it need to be in the main tank to effectively treat the water?
I am concerned that if I put too much water through the UV, then maybe it will kill off good parasites as well for my tank.
No such thing as good parasites, beneficial microorganisms sure. Much of the efficacy of UV units depends on the amount or time of exposure of organisms to the UV light. The lower the flow rate through a unit, the longer the exposure, so the higher the kill rate. If you go blasting water through the device its benefit will be negligible. You don't have to worry about killing "good" bugs, cause the types of bacteria you wish to cultivate spread through various media like sand and filters, not so much through swimming. That being said (and being a person who uses UV radiation professionally for disinfecting water) there are other factors as well that lead me to have my doubts about the effectivness of the UV units used in home aquariums.

 

[beth]

While a UV may help in preventing some ich, it will never cure ich, or offer a high degree of protection. To use it for parasites, water needs to run through it slower, rather than faster.
For the price of that uv unit, you could have set up a good QT.

 

[farnorth]

thanks for the info guys. I am currently doing hypo on my main tank, I have a qt tank and I decided to get this just to take an extra precaution for my tank. I will hook it up to my powerhead on the main tank and hopefully it will help clear up the water at least.