Some custom plumbing. You replace the ribbed stuff with pond tubing. I also had made my own spray bars out of black pvc so reaaly simple to just glue up barbed connections and hook it up with the pond tubing.
UV Sterilizers - Yes or No
- Thread starter 4D3
- Start date
This is my current set up in the 300g. I used union valves to be able to remove the unit to service and still keep the filter running.
The stand holding it all upright was made from PVC trim board I got from Lowes. You just have to think outside the pet store stuff and use commercial plumbing.
This was a dry fit picture the UV is attached with the pond tubing and all hose clamped up.
The stand holding it all upright was made from PVC trim board I got from Lowes. You just have to think outside the pet store stuff and use commercial plumbing.
This was a dry fit picture the UV is attached with the pond tubing and all hose clamped up.
Never ran a tank with one. LOL! Have about 25 tanks running (used to have more). Learn to quarantine new additions.
I'm with Shook- why set up a tank without one unless your just keeping cheap crap. Most of us spending money on fish aren't into cutting corners.
UVs have a hell of a lot more benefits then just killing disease. They raise oxygen levels by wiping out everything in the water column that uses it providing an over all healthier environment.
Here's another news flash for those that don't know as much as they think they do about UV. You don't NEED a low flow rate for them to work. I run mine on 4.3K gph pumps and still am able to reach level 2 sterilization. Slow the rate down and contact time goes up but frequency goes down. BOTH play a part in overall contact time.
UVs have a hell of a lot more benefits then just killing disease. They raise oxygen levels by wiping out everything in the water column that uses it providing an over all healthier environment.
Here's another news flash for those that don't know as much as they think they do about UV. You don't NEED a low flow rate for them to work. I run mine on 4.3K gph pumps and still am able to reach level 2 sterilization. Slow the rate down and contact time goes up but frequency goes down. BOTH play a part in overall contact time.
By consulting a member on here who engineers them. He crunched the numbers on a program and I bought accordingly.....
It's not hard to see through the BS people on here pass along. Clearly some people have no clue what they're talking about. I'd be the 1st to admit I knew nothing about UV, so I did the responsible thing an consulted a professional. Learned a ton by doing so...
The selling point is simply talking to people who are actually using UV properly cause I have yet to talk to someone who saw NO difference in the way their fish act - speaking of ray keepers anyways.....
I've been running an Aqua Classic 25 W on my 2262. It's rated for 1200 gph for acting as sterilizer in freshwater. The 1262 pump offers 900 gph, which makes it a great fit.
I used to think that I didn't need it, and that it was unnatural. Fact is, Fish and plants have been doing a lot better for the past 4 years. My breeding sessions are productive and the fry is healthy.
Most importantly, natural waters get UV radiation, and I firmly believe that a tank without UV is not as balanced ecologically.
But you do not "need" it. I have several tanks without.
I used to think that I didn't need it, and that it was unnatural. Fact is, Fish and plants have been doing a lot better for the past 4 years. My breeding sessions are productive and the fry is healthy.
Most importantly, natural waters get UV radiation, and I firmly believe that a tank without UV is not as balanced ecologically.
But you do not "need" it. I have several tanks without.
I run uv with a very low flow rate, but it's also interesting to consider not only single pass kill rate, which is given and not hard to calculate - but how mulitpass possibly effects microorganisms. Clearly UV only works with organisms in the water column, but consider that the same microbe may pass through the unit several times. There is no calculation on that probability (such as flow vs tank size) that I know of but it's interesting to think about. Also it is interesting to consider that while a microbe may survive a pass, it may be weakened to a point of reduced infection potential. These things are not easy to measure, and to my knowledge never have been, but still might come into play.
