Plumbing a UV in a reef setup

[Monroereef]

Hello

I understand that having a UV in a reef is debatable. I would like to have one plumbed in my system and use it as needed. That said, what is the best place to plumb it ? I have read some folks have it on the return line and all water goes through it into the display.

I have heard of some folks running it from the sump into the sump.

How is everyone who has one in reef setting running it?

My water volume is ~550G and I am planning to get Aqua UV Classic 80watt.

Thanks for looking.

Sunny

[Triggercdog]

I have mine plumbed as follows: t'd off my main retrun pump (reeflo dart)... Then it dumps back into my sump...

[Fishbulb2]

When you say "use it as needed" I think that changes a lot how you want to plumb it. I don't use a UV sterilizer on my reef tanks but I always have one on hand in my fish closet. If you aren't going to run it constantly, then don't have water flowing through it. That will just make it a nice dark place with water flow to grown all sorts of things. If you aren't going to use it regularly, I say buy a properly fitted pump for the unit, and then just run it from your sump when you need it. From sump through the unit then back to the sump. When you are done, tear it down and clean it really well. That's what I do. No sense in dirtying it up between use. The effectiveness of a UV unit is determined almost entirely by how much UV can get from the bulb to the water flowing through it, having salt creep or stuff growing in it would be bad news.

FB

[Monroereef]

Originally Posted by Fishbulb2

When you say "use it as needed" I think that changes a lot how you want to plumb it. I don't use a UV sterilizer on my reef tanks but I always have one on hand in my fish closet. If you aren't going to run it constantly, then don't have water flowing through it. That will just make it a nice dark place with water flow to grown all sorts of things. If you aren't going to use it regularly, I say buy a properly fitted pump for the unit, and then just run it from your sump when you need it. From sump through the unit then back to the sump. When you are done, tear it down and clean it really well. That's what I do. No sense in dirtying it up between use. The effectiveness of a UV unit is determined almost entirely by how much UV can get from the bulb to the water flowing through it, having salt creep or stuff growing in it would be bad news.

FB

Thanks FB

If I plumb it to the return line and allow all water to go through it before it enters the display, I am going to kill all pods that ever try to enter the display . The idea was to run it 12 hours a day. If I do not plumb it to return line, then what you said makes sense. However, I would still run 12/hr a day.

Do you run yours 24/7?

[biecacka]

They work by very slow water flow. In order to run it on your return line you would need one of two things, 1) very large uv unit, 2) very small return pump for your system
Corey

[Fishbulb2]

Originally Posted by Monroereef

Thanks FB

If I plumb it to the return line and allow all water to go through it before it enters the display, I am going to kill all pods that ever try to enter the display . The idea was to run it 12 hours a day. If I do not plumb it to return line, then what you said makes sense. However, I would still run 12/hr a day.

Do you run yours 24/7?

I run them differently on different systems. I run them 24/7 on my FW african cichlid tanks. Those fish always nip each other's fins. With no UV, I get a LOT of bacterial injections from those fights and lose a lot of fish. Even higher flow rates will kill off bacteria easily (within manufacturer specs of course).

In my reef tanks I don't run one. But if I even need to, I can just pull one out of the closet and put it on. In that case I would run it 24/7 until I felt the problem was resolved.

I'm currently building a sizable breeding operation in my basement for fun with cardinal fish. There I plan to run UV 24/7 when I get babies.

One thing to note about UVs in general. I think there is a lot of pessimism and bad information about them here on reefcentral. Basically, people first set the bar if they are only useful if they can kill ich 100%. I think that's a bad point. They have so many other uses in aquaria in general (even if not reeftanks per se). But in my cichlid tanks, I can clearly see the effects of eradicating bacterial infections resulting from injury. Also, in planted aquariums you will sometimes get green water and UV sterilizers are an IMMEDIATE fix. They are so effective at eradicating green water. Finally, for larval systems or quarantine, they can be of great benefit. There is so much more out there than just ich. People are too ich obsessed here. Eventually, all of this pessimism always leads someone to say that all aquarium UV systems must be junk. That's always the trend in these threads. I think that's bogus. Get a highly reliable sterilizer from a reputable manufacturer and it will perform just as intended. Just don't set unreal expectations. I haven't seen any direct benefits from UV in my own reef tanks, but I've I've definitely seen the effects first hand in other systems. Just determine exactly WHY you want it and what you expect from it.

FB


I'll add, I've worked a lot in research labs that use zebrafish as genetic model systems. These fish can take years and years to generate the mutant fish that people want and losing those fish to any bacterial infections or other pathogens is an unacceptable risk. All of those labs use UV sterilizers as a precautionary tool and most use the Aqua UV brand. So they do have a pretty good track record and people do rely on them for critical applications even thought they are referred to as "hobbyist grade" or junk around here. Again, that's a world that's not just obsessed with ich but worries more about bacteria and smaller pathogens as potential sources of problems (which is probably more realistic).

[Monroereef]

Originally Posted by biecacka

They work by very slow water flow. In order to run it on your return line you would need one of two things, 1) very large uv unit, 2) very small return pump for your system
Corey

Thanks. I have been doing some reading and the flow rates given by Aqua UV (if I can dial them as per them are very accurate. The slow rate is to kill protozoa but for algae etc they rate it at around 3000 G/hr.

[Monroereef]

Anyone else wants to chime in please?

[Monroereef]

Bump

[csm41]

Originally Posted by Triggercdog

I have mine plumbed as follows: t'd off my main retrun pump (reeflo dart)... Then it dumps back into my sump...

This is how I do it. Use a valve and unplug the UV and shut the valve when you don't want to use it.

[fishgate]

Don't shut the water off ever to the UV. Keep water flowing through it 24x7. What you need to do is simply shut the bulb off. Water stagnates very quickly sitting in the UV filter. So plumb it any way you want with a slow pump - like under 200 gph - then put the bulb portion on a timer.

[Monroereef]

Thanks guys. This helps.

Sunny

[EthanKyle]

Originally Posted by fishgate

Don't shut the water off ever to the UV. Keep water flowing through it 24x7. What you need to do is simply shut the bulb off. Water stagnates very quickly sitting in the UV filter. So plumb it any way you want with a slow pump - like under 200 gph - then put the bulb portion on a timer.

Whether you tee it off or not.

[SPotter]

Sunny take a look at this article.....very helpful.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/introd...ers/Page1.html

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2

[snorvich]

I use UV (Aqua UV) on my pond with excellent results. As a water clarifier it is superb. Not effective against parasites but then I do not expect it to be.