[Steelwolve]

I have had bad green water issues in 2 of my tanks now for almost 2 months, I finally broke down and bought a new Sun sun 565gph 4 stage canister filter with a built in 9W UV Sterilizer bulb. It arrived last friday and I hooked it up and had it running on my 90gal by 3:30pm last Friday. I let it run till Sunday and saw no signs of improvement, so I did my normal 50% WC, and then did another 50%change back to back to try to assist the sterilizer at getting rid of it. It of course looked much better right away as it always does after a WC, but was still not clear by Tuesday, so I did another WC this time 80% hoping to really wipe it clean. But here it is Thursday and its still very cloudy. I thought this thing was supposed to work rather quickly as most people said it would be clear in hours. So I figured theres probably a WPG rule for these is a 9W too weak for a 90G?, I thought that It might take a little longer than say a 13W but... a whole week with 2 big water changes? I know the bulb is lighting up, there is a view port, and I just kept the cheap stock pads in there for now, nothing else. I have also kept my AC110 and other smaller sun sun running on this tank too, with Phosphate pads in them. I guess I cant do anything but wait:icon_roll. I still have to move the filter over to my 29G to get it clear it still looks like a swamp. I wonder if they sent me a non UV bulb by mistake or rip off?

 

[houseofcards]

It should work, it could take at least a 7-10 days to clear, but you should see some improvement before that. Are you within the flow guidelines for killin algae?

 

[Steelwolve]

It should work, it could take at least a 7-10 days to clear, but you should see some improvement before that. Are you within the flow guidelines for killin algae?

Im unaware of "flow guidelines" or what you mean? Could you elaborate? If your refering to something in the manual that came with the filter it did not say anything like that I needed to slow the flow to kill algae, but it didnt say much. Cheap filter. So if I understand your comment I would be better to reduce the flow, there for giving the water more time "in contact" with the bulb???

 

[houseofcards]

Yes

Generally speaking Parasites like ich require the most contact time.
Algae is sorta in the middle.
Bacteria would require the least

 

[Steelwolve]

That makes sense! Thanks House!

 

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A 9 watt UV unit on a 90g tank may never clear the algae - by itself. Add some clumps of fast growing stem plants and the situation may change over night.

 

[houseofcards]

For me anyway the UV is still the most simple direct route to clearing a tank. If the flow is within range the 9 watt should clear a 90G. Adding plant mass, etc is always a good idea if your tank allows that, but not as sure as a UV IMO.