What Pump Size Do I need for 57W UV Sterilizer?

[yepreef]

So, i just got the Aqua UV 57 watt for my 140g total water volume. The main purpose of this is for water clarity and prevent fish diseases. My main return Pump is 1900 and I measured my manifold rated about 1G every 35s so come out about 102 gph, in other hand manufacturer recommended more than 2000 ghp, if i run this by separated 2000 gph pump, this would blow up my sump. Does anybody have the same set up as mine? What pump gph do you use for 57w UV for water clarity?
Thanks

 

[JCTReefer]

For water clarity not sure. For dinos about 1-3 times turnover. I personally have used 3 times turnover with my Aqua UV and had success with eradicating ostreopsis. Yes, I know this isn’t what your asking, but if you ever get this type of dinoflagellate, it’s good information to know!!!! Lol!!!! I’ll will say the manufacturer is sometimes off on their recommended GPH for targeting certain things.

 

[yepreef]

i'm scratching my head to figure out what exact pump do i need as there is no way my sump can handle that much flow (2000 gph as recommended). Hopefully someone is running the same set up for water clarity jumping in and give me an advice.

 

[DaddyFish]

So, i just got the Aqua UV 57 watt for my 140g total water volume. The main purpose of this is for water clarity and prevent fish diseases. My main return Pump is 1900 and I measured my manifold rated about 1G every 35s so come out about 102 gph, in other hand manufacturer recommended more than 2000 ghp, if i run this by separated 2000 gph pump, this would blow up my sump. Does anybody have the same set up as mine? What pump gph do you use for 57w UV for water clarity?
Thanks

@yepreef Purpose is for water clarity, prevent fish diseases, or both? You have to be clear with your UV purpose first.
Then, what's your head height?

 

[DaddyFish]

80,000 uW/cm2 is typically touted as the necessary exposure to kill parasites (which is what I presume you mean by "diseases"). That puts you in the middle of these two Aqua UV flow ratings...

at 75,000 µw/cm2 (EOL) GPH: 1,280
at 90,000 µw/cm2 (EOL) GPH: 1,066 (Min Flow Rate)

Of course, those ratings are for brand new equipment, brand new bulb, everything nice and clean. So if you want to target parasites/disease you need a flow rate AT THE UV of roughly 1,000 gph.

Again, what's your head height?

 

[yepreef]

@yepreef Purpose is for water clarity, prevent fish diseases, or both? You have to be clear with your UV purpose first.
Then, what's your head height?

Head high is about 2 ft. I mentioned the purpose in the post, it's for water clarity mainly.

 

[DaddyFish]

Head high is about 2 ft. I mentioned the purpose in the post, it's for water clarity mainly.

I can't believe I'm saying this... I NEVER say this... but IMO you have too much UV for your 140g system. You're going to have to pump at least 1,000 gph through it just to keep it from overheating, and that's going to raise your water temp by 3-4 degrees F easily. You can do it, but you won't be able to run the UV 24x7 without some serious chiller power.

 

[DaddyFish]

This is probably your sweet spot for general water clarity with that unit...
at 45,000 µw/cm2 (EOL) GPH: 2,133

Sicce SDC 9.0 at roughly 2.0 feet head height running at approx. 90% is going to get you there.

The nice thing about using a DC pump with a wide open flow rating that matches your targeted water clarity flow, is that you can always throttle down the pump and increase the UV exposure for a parasite infestation. You can get the best of both worlds in a UV / DC Pump combination setup, using just one UV unit.

The Sicce SDC 9.0 is rated 1000-2500 gph. With only 2.0 feet head height it's a nearly perfect match for your Aqua 57 watt UV unit.

 

[yepreef]

wow that is insane flow, about temp issue you mentioned i may have to return this UV lol

 

[JumboShrimp]

I don’t know if this will help you— but on this 40W I just hooked up a cheap controllable Jaebo and took a stab at flow for algae control. The sand is white and the water and glass clear. (The Jaebo sits in the sump.)

 

[yepreef]

I don’t know if this will help you— but on this 40W I just hooked up a cheap controllable Jaebo and took a stab at flow for algae control. The sand is white and the water and glass clear. (The Jaebo sits in the sump.)

Nice, are you experiencing high temp issue? Are you running chiller?

 

[DaddyFish]

Killing algae with UV is pretty easy. And the more flow you can produce typically the better your results. If you can turnover the tank/system capacity by 10-12x per hour and still hit 20,000 µw/cm2 you will demolish algae.

Just remember, a 57-watt UV has roughly the same effect as running a 100-watt heater locked ON 12-hours each day.

 

[JumboShrimp]

It’s a FOWLER, so temperature may be a little more forgiving; no chiller.

 

[DaddyFish]

I don’t know if this will help you— but on this 40W I just hooked up a cheap controllable Jaebo and took a stab at flow for algae control. The sand is white and the water and glass clear. (The Jaebo sits in the sump.)

IMO a 40-watt is much better sized for a 140 gal system.
Yeah, you don't have much head height at all from what I can see. You should be getting pretty close to max rated flow from most any quality pump.

 

[yepreef]

Just remember, a 57-watt UV has roughly the same effect as running a 100-watt heater locked ON 12-hours each day.

Nice, this will help me figure out if i need a chiller or not. Thanks again.

 

[DaddyFish]

FYI, I run two tanks with "oversized" UV and no chillers. What I do is run the UVs only at night when the main lights are off and the ambient room temperature is much cooler. I don't gain any lamp life because switching them on/off each day cuts the lamp life in half and that pretty much balances out against the 12-hour burn time. But it keeps two chillers out of my expense.