DIY UV Light

Yes, I bought a 40W GE Germicidal lamp (T8 tube). The 38W ballast doesn't seem to have enough power to run it. I have put on an very old 54W ballast. It is better but still doesn't do the job. Any suggestions
 
I bought a 40W GE Germicidal lamp (T8 tube). The 38W ballast doesn't seem to have enough power to run it. I have put on an very old 54W ballast. It is better but still doesn't do the job

You cannot see the UV, so how do you know that it is running "better" on one ballast than the other?

Also, as butcherman asked: what do you want to do with it exactly, and how are you operating it?

you will need to cover the light so it CAN NOT shine into your eyes. it will burn your eyes and you will have arch eye, very painful

Agreed - it can even make you go blind... so be VERY careful.

Hennie
 
My suggestion is u go the safe way, Buy a nice sterilizer in the range of Atman.
Deltec and JBL manufactures very efficient sterilizers, but Atman is also reliable and cheaper than the two mentioned above. yes, I second wat they've said before, be very careful with U.V, its harmful to the eye, be careful of not looking the light directly.
 
Germacidal light glows purple so you can see its on

Yes, BUT you cannot see the amount of UV they emit, only the "Actinic" near-UV, so looking at one won't give any indication of how bright the UV emission is.

Hennie
 
Yes, BUT you cannot see the amount of UV they emit, only the "Actinic" near-UV, so looking at one won't give any indication of how bright the UV emission is.

Hennie
You dont need to see the amount of uv its giving off. Its designed to kill things! The purple glow is mearly an incication on where its on of off and not to be confused with antics.
Even 2 min direct exposure im sure is to much!
It has a rating UV-C i belive it is. Which to my knowledge is worse than A add B Types.
 
I have upgrade to a 1,8m tank and change from reef with suitable fish to fish with suitable corals. Due to the distance of the nearest LFS, I need do make sure my water qulity stays perfect. I build a UV sterilizer with the tube inside a 2" pvc pipe. The tube stay on flickering which tells me it is not working as it should be.

The whole purpose of this to kill bacteria and deseaces. I am currently struggeling with white spot on most of my fishs. I bought a ozone system without doing my homework properly. That is lying in the garage.

I am busy to taking my system down to hyposilinity.

What is the best filtration to ensure perfect water condition constantly?
 
You dont need to see the amount of uv its giving off. Its designed to kill things! The purple glow is mearly an incication on where its on of off and not to be confused with antics.

Well, that's exactly my point. Freek wrote:

The 38W ballast doesn't seem to have enough power to run it. I have put on an very old 54W ballast. It is better but still doesn't do the job

and I was trying to make the point that even if it looked dim, it does not mean that it is not emitting UV, so changing to a higher wattage ballast was not necessarily the best thing to do.

I do agree that UV-C is deadly, hence the warning to freek that looking at it could make one go blind...

The whole purpose of this to kill bacteria and deseaces. I am currently struggeling with white spot on most of my fishs

UV sterilizers are not very effective in marine setups, and IMHO does more harm than good. IF your water quality is good, you don't over-crowd your fish, you only keep compatible fish together, and you practice good aquarium husbandry (including quarantining new additions), you should not have disease problems - I have run my tanks for more than 12 years now without any UV, and have never lost a fish due to white spot.

Hennie
 
Hi Reef maniac

UV sterilizers are very effective in reef tanks you only need to ask someone like Adriaan at Idol and he will tell you that within 24 Hours of is UV unit going on the frits he had one of the worst whitespot outbreaks i have ever seen.

I have also run UV before in previous earlier tanks and they worked a treat, I will say that i am in agreement that it is not something i would use unless i had a whitepot problem and i also think running one24 /7 does more harm than good.

UV is still a good tool to have especially for newbie's.

Hi freek

If you have a whitespot problem and you have'nt added any new livestock then there is some other underlying problem that UV may help but will not solve.
Also building a UV reactor is a risky affair and not worth the risk considering you can buy a new plug n play sterilizer for about R400
 
I bought a ozone system without doing my homework properly.

Wat brand ozone unit do you have. In my experience you can use ozonizers ( best run with redox meter) to treat the tank and neglect the U.V path.. But that doesn't mean it's going to treat the fish directly. But sure it helps in ameliorating the quality of your water.
 
Hi Mautirius-aquarist

I bought it from Ozone Services, a Company dealing in Industrial ozone machines. There is no name on it just a model number. All I know the output is 500mg/h. I explained to the technician yesterday how I want to build the ozne reator. I will run it not more than 5 min per hour. I am thinking of connecting it up on my hospital tank.

Hi Submariner,

I added 2 Pakhistani butterfly fish and an Emperors Angel to my tank (1000 X 500 X 500) while I was setting up my 1,8m tank. I already lost the Emperors Angel. When I move move all my fish to the big tank, then the white spot was descovered.

I dropped the silinity and out of despiration I started with proto marin intensiv treatment after I removed all my other livestock.
 
Hello Freek,
Basicallly 500mg is suitable of tanks of 5000Lt monitored by the potential meter of course. YOur tank is around 1000Lt-1200Lts I guess so ya practically way too high with the ozonizer capcity, this you know. Well I honestly can't tell you how effective the ozonizer will be if it run run 5 mins per hour. Do you know any reefer living not far from you using a redox meter. MayB u can arrange to borrow the meter so you can have a close monitor on the dosage for 1 week. Any picture of your tank inhabitants and your filtration set-up.

Sterilizers and Ozonizers - Pros and Cons
 
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