All pond soultions external filter

[Fatalgoblin]

Hi all I am a new be still I have a juewl 180 vision tank I am now thinking of getting a new filter from all pond solutions the 2000lph I am stuck at the minute should I go for one with uv light bult in or the one without my tank is planted and I dose it with exel flourish and pathsom and iron
Feed back would be grateful and tips
Ps I decided on 2000lph one as I read that you need one that does 10× the water volume is this right

 

[ian_m]

The x10 flow rate is only needed if you are going high tech ie CO2, high light levels and high levels of fertiliser. If low tech ie no CO2, lower light and fish poo/ light fertiliser the Juwel internal 600l/hr are absolutely fine.

As for UV in the filter, a gimmick. Water will be flowing too fast for UV to make any difference. Why do you think none of the big boy filter manufacturers offer UV in their filters ?

 

[sciencefiction]

Get the 2000l/h anyway. It will do fine for a 180l tank. If you use the spraybar it will not blow too much as it restricts the flow. Without the spraybar it may make a storm but that's if you want more flow...For the price they are fine filters and they work.

As ian_m says, get the one without the UV. It's useless as UV because UV bulbs need extremely slow flow to have an effect. It makes cleaning the filter more difficult and its a "weak" part in the filter considering that if you break it or break the seal of the bulb sleeve, the whole filter can't work.

 

[Fatalgoblin]

Thanks guys for the advise I will at a later stage at co2 into the tank so I think I am slowly upgrading it to a high tech tank but bit buy bit

 

[Fatalgoblin]

Sorry guys another question
I have an ehime external filter at the moment
So when I get the new filter do I run both or just the new one
If I run both then how long does it take for bacteria etc to bilding up in it

 

[sciencefiction]

I'd run both for redundancy. To speed up the cycle in the new filter, just swap some media from your old filter. If you are running just the new filter, swap all media from the old without exception but the more filtration, the better in the long run.

 

[KipperSarnie]

[QUOTE="sciencefiction, post: 471390, member: 9767". It's useless as UV because UV bulbs need extremely slow flow to have an effect. It makes cleaning the filter more difficult and its a "weak" part in the filter considering that if you break it or break the seal of the bulb sleeve, the whole filter can't work.[/QUOTE]
I've just bought a UV, are you saying to plug it into the return external filter line is no good?

 

[sciencefiction]

I've just bought a UV, are you saying to plug it into the return external filter line is no good?

Yes. Check the spec sheet. It should say what max flow it is effective at killing certain microbs and algae. But its pretty low normally.

 

[KipperSarnie]

I didn't know that but having checked the spec on a couple of different manufacturers it looks like the bigger the UV the greater the flow rate all those I've just checked have a flow rate equivalent to or above the flow rate of external filters.

So it would appear to me that the small UV's fitted in filters do not do their job due to the filter flow rate but once you get up to 18w & above separate units the UV is capable of the filter flow rates.

I've just bought a 36w with "Through Flow Sterilisation at 6000 L/H" The filter it will be coupled with an external filter with a flow rate of 1200 L/H

 

[sciencefiction]

The specs should indicate the rate of flow at which the UV filter is efficient at killing water bone algae spores and at which microbes. Normally the latter requires a much slower flow rate. So it depends what you need the filter for...