On several occasions, I have mentioned that I don't feel UV as we find it in the hobby would help. I have always felt the dwell time for the bacteria passing a single point would be too short to really do much.
I now have to change my view!
I recently had a problem when changing to a new, brighter light. I got a really cloudy tank where the only change was in the lighting, so that I was certain this was not just debris but actually really tiny bits of algae floating around and thick enough to make the tank cloudy. Not something I see often but it did give me a chance to try out the UV on a Sunsun 304B that I had never turned on before.
The filter has a switch built in so that it is handy to turn on/off, so I thought of trying it.
First day was a dramatic improvement and the second it was no longer visible!
I do not want to call it a fulltime item to use but I will now state that it does work.
But at the same time, I will be making the changes needed to cut down on producing the algae rather than rely on the UV full time.
I want it as a backup but not full time.
They also kill bad bacteria you definitely don't want in the tank, also illnesses in the tank etc etc, they are good for water clarity but that's not all they are good for
On several occasions, I have mentioned that I don't feel UVas we find it in the hobby would help. I have always felt the dwell time for the bacteria passing a single point would be too short to really do much.
It is nice to see the progress from "feel" to "try" to conclusion... I believe that many members here should actually do it and be surprised . You are right in doubting it, in fact choose a UV that is too small for your tank/filter and it will not work. The dosage received by the microorganisms is influenced by power of the lamp, time spent exposed and eventual shading given by particulate matter, other organisms or poor construction.
From another point of view, you are right it does not work. As with most biological systems you have a lot of diversity. Algae are a easy target for UV but in order to kill most bacteria from the water you will need to blast them with a lot more UV, fungal spores even harder. One could even argue that using UV to kill the sensitive bacteria will change the bacterial population of the aquarium in possible detrimental ways. Although not bacteria, this reminds me of the cute water bears which can survive 10 day of cosmic UV
I use a 15 watt UV continuously on my tank and have for years if for no other reason than it adds that finishing sparkle to the water. You can find other support for using them from reduction of pathogens to a positive affect on redox.
With upside there is often a downside!
I am seeing a downside to UV that I had not expected. Turning on the 9Volt UV would seem to be pretty safe but with the improvement in the tank clarity comes a problem for me. This tank tends to run a bit warm with full glass tops and a new LED light.
Turning on the UV is like running a 9 volt heater full time. I now get a overheat alarm on my controller! With the larger power draw of the Sunsun filter as well as the UV, I now have a totally different problem.
Don't you mean 9W (watt) as in electrical power ? While the UV setup might increase the temperature somewhat (not much in my experience), it is not the same thing as running a heater. Some energy will be converted to UV radiation, probably some to other non-UV light spectrum radiation and some to heat. Heat in this case is a side-product, while in the case of the heater the product has a resistor that is particularly designed to convert electricity to heat.
If you observe such an effect from the UV alone, consider running it at night time or putting the transformers away from the tank. In most cases the transformers are the major source of heat not the bulb. The best /cheapest way to cool the tank would be to allow for some airflow at the surface of the water, but this might be difficult in your case.
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