UV light ...overkill ?

[Jeroen]

Hello,

After many advices I finally have got money together for my UV units.
I have orderered 2x5 watt because eacht tank is 150 liter and has his own filter
Now my question is: is it possible to use to MUCH UV....so a overkill ?

also I would like to know what is the best order to set the filter ?

tank > uv > filter > back to tank
OR
tank > filter > uv > back to tank

Hope this will be the solution to the fungus on my eggs


Jeroen

[mistakes r crucial]

Hi Jeroen,

Your UV should be placed on a filter outlet so Tank - Filter - UV - Back to tank.

I'm sure you will receive varying opinions on the amount of exposure to UV but my breeders are on 100% and my growouts are on 70%. The reason I bypass 30% of water in my growouts is because I have been told in the past that when you sell your fry and they move into a system without UV they are more susceptible to health problems, their immune system is not used to dealing with them. This however was the opinion and experience of one person although he does have 50 years breeding experience so I tend to listen to him.
HTH
MAC

[Jeroen]

Hi Mac,

Very clear what you say....but let's say I would place a 55 watt unit on a 150 liter tank, even with a bypass of the 30% there will be killed all bact and all other isn't ? so how you know what is aprox the right amount of UV ? how may liters to 1 watt aprox ?

Jeroen

[mistakes r crucial]

Hi Jeroen,

I have never heard of any formula to work out UV wattage to litres although that most certainly doesn't mean there isn't one. The manufacturers normally tell you which unit is suited to different tank sizes.

I have 8 watt units on both my systems and they are recommended for just over 3000 litres and work perfectly but they are external units, not internal. The internal units seem to have a higher wattage but lower litre capacity.

For a 150 litre tank I would use something like an internal 9 watt which is suitable for up to 200 litres.
HTH
MAC

[Jeroen]

OK great....I have ordered 9watt external units :-)
The reason why I wanted to be sure is that they were recomended for ponds up to 4500 liter...big difference hehehe

Thanks a lot for your info

Jeroen

[discus21]

i bought a external uv 3 months ago

from one of our sponsers it was a great price
but you get what you pay for

it FLOODED MY HOUSE
the plastic was cheap and the uv must of deterioted the plastic
and it cracked and broke off at the water intake

and flooded my house
so BEWARE of external Cheap filters
not worth the trouble it has caused me almost lost my fish and heater went,ruined carpet PLASTER and curtains

thank god it was before we went on holidays
discus21

[Jeroen]

Hi discus 21 thanks a lot for this valueble information
I will setup the unit so that IF it brakes the water can go nowhere but back in the tank.

4 years unsuccesful....wow, you have a lot of patience ;-) are you succesful now ?

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Finally: my UV unit is in, a 9watt (must be enough)
As mentioned before I am still trying to improve all settings cause all couples are eating the eggs after 30 hours
Last nest made some improvement, eggs lasted for 50 hours (almost there)
From a good example close to me I know it can not be the water...so I went shopping today :-)

2 tanks 50x50x50 cm
1 biological filter, 80x40x40
filter material 35 liters of Denilit (must be very good)
25 liters of some vulcano rock (not the red one)
2 big pieces of blue sponge (for the first compartment)
9 watt uv

both filter material containt millions of small holes (don't know how to translate that, sorry) so as much information I could find they say it is the best stuff to build up a huge positive bacteryculture

If I can find the time I will install this all tomorow transfer the sponge filters in the new filter system to make it run quicker, pump over the water from old tank to new tank and fill it up....after that move 2 couple's to new setup see if they do better then in the old situation...
if it is so, then I will rebuild my whole setup

Jeroen

Keep you updated

[Ben]

Hi Jeroen,

let us know when you have finished your new set up and take some photo's for us all!

With this new set up you should be breeding your pairs like rabbits!

Cheers
Ben

[Jeroen]

Hahaha.....ben, by the time my discus can breed rabbits I think I am a fortuned man ;-)
I will force myself to start to make some pictures (photographer as a job and to lazy for it ;-))
The setup I make now is kind of temp. if it works I will sell this setup and the otherone and build one bigger/nice one...first I want to solve the mistery whe my eggs don't survive....marked all the positive and negative things I had, and my feeling says the problem is the way that I did filter in my first setup...

Pics comming soon

Jeroen

[Merrilyn]

Looking forward to seeing some photos of your new set up Jeroen.

Sounds like you've got everything covered now, so good luck with breeding your pairs.

Simply the fact that they are leaving the eggs for a longer time each time they lay, is a good sign.

Soon they'll get it all together, and you'll have babies.