While working at a drinkig water disinfection facilty as a chemist microbiolgist, I attended a number of seminars about the effectiveness of UV.
Most of those were to determine efficacy against human pathogens, such as Giardia or Cryptospodium. But
As an aquarist I was also interested in UV effectiveness in combating diseases like Ich, Lernea, or flatworms, such as gill flukes.
These complex parasites need to much more lengthy detention time to be even remotely be effective, eliminating
and may take a number of moments detention under the intense full light to even make a dent.
So it all depends on what you expect to achieve, with how much maintenance you are willing to do, cleaning out gunk buildup the UV chamber, a
nd how often, you want to replace bulbs.
Below a quip fro a drinking water study.
The required UV detention time to kill parasites depends on the specific parasite, the UV system's intensity, and the water's clarity, but a dose of around 400 J/m$^2$ is a common benchmark, which can be achieved with a flow rate of about 0.08 L/s in some systems. Parasites like Giardia and Cryptosporidium are more resistant to UV than bacteria and viruses, requiring a higher UV dose and therefore potentially a longer detention time or slower flow rate.
Most of those were to determine efficacy against human pathogens, such as Giardia or Cryptospodium. But
As an aquarist I was also interested in UV effectiveness in combating diseases like Ich, Lernea, or flatworms, such as gill flukes.
These complex parasites need to much more lengthy detention time to be even remotely be effective, eliminating
and may take a number of moments detention under the intense full light to even make a dent.
So it all depends on what you expect to achieve, with how much maintenance you are willing to do, cleaning out gunk buildup the UV chamber, a
nd how often, you want to replace bulbs.
Below a quip fro a drinking water study.
The required UV detention time to kill parasites depends on the specific parasite, the UV system's intensity, and the water's clarity, but a dose of around 400 J/m$^2$ is a common benchmark, which can be achieved with a flow rate of about 0.08 L/s in some systems. Parasites like Giardia and Cryptosporidium are more resistant to UV than bacteria and viruses, requiring a higher UV dose and therefore potentially a longer detention time or slower flow rate.
