Internal UV Filter Some Benefits - Jury is still Out!!

[X3NiTH]

It's a dwell time reactor for crushing co2 into my water, there is an inline atomiser 2m before the unit (coiled 16/22mm Eheim piping). The water goes down the 40mm drainage pipe in the middle where assumed countercurrents give the co2 more time to diffuse into the water, any bubbles that escape the pipe at the bottom get caught in the sponges to give the co2 further time to diffuse into the water, the water that exits this unit goes straight into the tank and is crystal clear, annoying 7up effect banished and the DC can no longer be tricked by free floating co2 getting caught in the bell.

The fish couldn't care less about the low pH but pond Snails hate it as it dissolves their shells prompting their exodus or burial, Nerites last a little longer but the terminal point of the shell gets burned through and when that happens its game over for the Nerites.

All that flow comes out a 13mm glass crook and hits the front tank glass and then spreads across it, the flow is very gentle after this with the plants slowly swaying in a gentle breeze. My Purple emperor tetras love swimming against the flow from the crook, especially after a water change, thankfully they have outgrown being able to jam themselves into the crook. I wouldn't put a Betta in my tank though!

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Thanks X3Nith that explains the technology just fine. How do you find it with all that pipe work coiled up? I would like to fit a set of Eheim connectors in the pipeline from my filters to make them easier to remove for maintenance but there isn't enough pipework to slot them in. Bit of a pain, especially as I am about to replace a load of the plastic filter media in one of them with Siporax. I got four litres delivered in the post today, now I am just waiting for the new bubble counter to arrive and I'm ready to go.

I have put the UV in the tank today so I will wait now and see what the effect is. Updates later.

Cheers,

Steve.

 

[X3NiTH]

The coiled pipe work can be a pain if gas builds up in the line if I do a filter gut as I have it coiled vertically to fit behind the reactor, the UV higher up is the main culprit though (I really should lower it). Doing a water change however takes less time so pipe degas is minimal and doesn't give me any restart issues. Having the taps is very handy, it means I can isolate the reactor from the system for giving it a clean and not interrupt flow to the tank any longer than necessary by reconnecting things up without the reactor in the loop so I don't end up with air locks by taking too long. I only get restart issues if I open the filter for cleaning.

 

[REDSTEVEO]

I have posted this in my Full Monty Journal, but I thought I better update everyone watching this thread. Well today I bit the bullet and removed most if not all the Eleocharis from the tank. A fair few bits of substrate support came out with it. I pruned the Monte Carlos to within an inch of its life, the damn thing was about three inches thick, no wonder there was a flow problem around it. I also removed some smaller pieces of rock from around the base of the hillock, they were not adding anything to the look and just took up space and reduced the flow so they are out.

I regrouped some of the Staurgyrene and some of the Altanantheri Reinecki then leveled the sand, siphoned out about 80 litres of water with the muck resulting as a result of the removal of the Eleocharis.

Topped up the water, cranked up the Co2 added Flourish Excel and now am waiting for the water to clear. I will take some photos tomorrow when things have settled down.

So what is the situation with the Internal UV I hear you asking? I can only say the jury is still out on this. It must have made a difference to something because two things have happened. For one, the water has had a clearer edge to it, secondly the KH has gone up from 0 to 4dhk in just over a week, which is obviously doing something to the PH because I have noticed the the PH Controller is coming on more often and pumping Co2 into the tank. The other good thing is that the UV Filter is pushing another 500 lires per hour around the tank and taking the C02 with it. The other handy feature is the oxygenating function which I am sure is doing something with higher levels of oxygen the discus don't seem to be breathing as quick as they were.

I am thinking of getting a single Koralia powerhead to replace the UV in a few weeks time.

Is the UV having any effect on the algae? Not sure to be honest but the rocks seems to have less green algae on them.

The jury is still out! I will update in a few days time.

Cheers,

Steve.