UV Sterilizer for Fish Tank

[carlyai]

Evidently I need a UV Sterilizer @ 30000 uW/cm2 for algae control.

The UV lights I see on Lazada are rated in Watts. 

I have 1m3 of water and I worked out I need a UV light of 13.6 W. This can't be right.

From past posts Crossy and others have Koi fish with UV Sterilizer. (Initially they told me that the UV lights were there for the fish to get a suntan), but I think that was a joke. ????

Learned UV  sterilized  people, what Wattage or brand would you recommend?

[worgeordie]

On my koi pool I have 2 x 30 Watt Jebo UV sterilizers, and have no algae,

change lamps every 12 months, you can find them on Lazada or Aliexpress,

 

So you have 1000 liters of water ? 13 W - 15 W, should work OK,dont pump

the water through too quickly.

regards worgeordie

 

[PJHassselt]

I also kill algae with UV lamps. It works (The killing I mean) very well. But the live time from the lamps is very short. When the lamps last 4 weeks I am a happy person. Usual it is ten days. I changed now to 24 lamps from 8 Watt. Every 12 hours I switch from 12 lamps, to the other 12 . My pond has 40.000 liter. The time the water is in the filter area with the UV lamps is about 4 minutes. The UV lamps are installed between two polished SS sheets. Nearly daily I notice some lamps stopped working. Nearly every week I change the broken lamps. When they work, the result is good.

 

 

[Pogust]

Tilapia eat algae. If you grow tilapia you want a green water pond with plenty of algae in it. Maybe Carlyai is using a different fish? Shrimps also eat algae. Maybe mix in some shrimps that clean the water and produce food too?

 

Permaculture thinking, the problem is the solution ;-). Don't buy expensive stuff to kill algae, grow some food that eat it instead....

 

[tifino]

how effective are LED UV lamp arrays? 

[tifino]

is the option locally available to utilise a Natural formulation instead of UV?    

I have for a number of years used a natural pond sludge & algae/blanketweed remover 

Part number available on Google search:  "03AO125" 

  

I use it regularly in a 280L pond - and works equally well in the Aquarium.  No plants nor fish have succumbed from it's use 

 

It was the only product I have found locally that is not some suspect concoction of 'chemical' 

 

[ourmanflint]

Algae growth is caused by too much Phosphorus and Nitrogen and not enough Carbon Dioxide, assume you have a planted tank? To fix the first two use proper filtration or don't feed as much and to fix low CO2, you need to increase circulation

[carlyai]

On 2/8/2021 at 11:57 AM, Pogust said:

Tilapia eat algae. If you grow tilapia you want a green water pond with plenty of algae in it. Maybe Carlyai is using a different fish? Shrimps also eat algae. Maybe mix in some shrimps that clean the water and produce food too?

 

Permaculture thinking, the problem is the solution ;-). Don't buy expensive stuff to kill algae, grow some food that eat it instead....

 

Thanks. I am using Tilapia. They're in 2 x 1000 L tanks but I don't want green water. The water was nice and clean, then went light green. I need to be able to see the bottom of the tanks clearly to check on dead fish.

[carlyai]

On 2/8/2021 at 12:16 PM, tifino said:

is the option locally available to utilise a Natural formulation instead of UV?    

I have for a number of years used a natural pond sludge & algae/blanketweed remover 

Part number available on Google search:  "03AO125" 

  

I use it regularly in a 280L pond - and works equally well in the Aquarium.  No plants nor fish have succumbed from it's use 

 

It was the only product I have found locally that is not some suspect concoction of 'chemical' 

 

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I revisited my bead filter site and found they recommend UV light for algae control. Not when they sell you the filter (then its all about crystal clear water) but in the FAQ section. I skim read that part. ????

[carlyai]

On 2/8/2021 at 2:55 PM, ourmanflint said:

Algae growth is caused by too much Phosphorus and Nitrogen and not enough Carbon Dioxide, assume you have a planted tank? To fix the first two use proper filtration or don't feed as much and to fix low CO2, you need to increase circulation

Hi thanks. I have tanks inside a room. I have an AST 8000 bubble bead filter which is supposed to be the best for the amount of fish I have. I did notice that there is a "clunk" when I backwash, and in the FAQ section this could be caused by the beads clumping together and maybe a filtering problem but the solids are all removed. I'll look at it more later.

I have the flow rate set to change the water hourly. So flow rate is 2000 L/hr.

The water was nice and clear, then turned greenish. I fixed a LED fluro and forgot and left the two overhead fluros on all night, so maybe that did It, not sure.