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UV, why and what for?


lduncan

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Interesting. I'm not using either but i'd have chosen OZONE over UV because of cost. Someone earlier said Ozone adds something to the water? All it does is add an unstable molicule which can't stay for long. As for the harnful effects of ozone, not in the small quantities used for home aquairums, but its is 'possible'.

Pie

It's not only possible it's probable. Ozone will oxidise bromine compounds to hypobromic acid if it bumps into it. It's almost as nasty as chlorine bleach. (Bromine is also used in pools as a substitute for chlorine).

Don't really want that being created in my tank, even in small quantities really. It may not be catastrophic, but it's not going to do much good either. There is a good alternative in UV.

I guess to me UV is more fool proof. But of course heaps of people use ozone with great success. I prefer UV though.

Layton

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It's not only possible it's probable. Ozone will oxidise bromine compounds to hypobromic acid if it bumps into it. It's almost as nasty as chlorine bleach. (Bromine is also used in pools as a substitute for chlorine).

Don't really want that being created in my tank, even in small quantities really. It may not be catastrophic, but it's not going to do much good either. There is a good alternative in UV.

I guess to me UV is more fool proof. But of course heaps of people use ozone with great success. I prefer UV though.

Layton

One of the tanks you gave as a great example of UV, is actually not UV at all. It runs ozone!

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Carbon is fine in a correctly run tank.

You mean carbon which leaches stuff (no matter what source)? Carbon which you have to replace? Carbon which doesn't actually remove the stuff from your system and just traps it, until you replace it?

UV seems better to me. That's what I got it for, so I don't have to use carbon.

Yip wasp, that one that said ozone next to it. I was really just using those to illustrate that UV isn't that uncommon, not as a example of how it makes a tank better.

Layton

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Put it this way Layton you've been running it a week now. Did it work? Any results? Before and after pics?

Yip, massive increase in skimmer output overnight. Will be interesting to see what effect it has on nitrates, which are just over 5 at the moment.

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Yip wasp, that one that said ozone next to it.

Layton

Scratching to find enough UV ones?

I was really just using those to illustrate that UV isn't that uncommon, not as a example of how it makes a tank better.

Layton

Using an ozone tank to demonstrate how UV makes a tank better is certainly an interesting, if somewhat confused, approach.

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Scratching to find enough UV ones?

Nope, that was all of 5 min searching this morning. I didn't have to look hard.

Using an ozone tank to demonstrate how UV makes a tank better is certainly an interesting, if somewhat confused, approach.

I wasn't doing that. I wasn't even demonstrating how UV makes a tank better (you clearly still can't read). Just that it's more common than people might think.

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Actually Layton it is quite funny really.

Every single thread I've ever started, or been in, trying to discuss filtration in a sensible manner, has been turned into a great big arguing thread, by you.

I've never once been able to have a sensible discussion about zeovit on this forum, thanks to you.

Now you get upset and abusive when I crashed your thread. Funny that.

Just to show what a gentleman I am, I'll now leave your UV thread, it's yours :lol:

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Actually Layton it is quite funny really.

Every single thread I've ever started, or been in, trying to discuss filtration in a sensible manner, has been turned into a great big arguing thread, by you.

I've never once been able to have a sensible discussion about zeovit on this forum, thanks to you.

Now you get upset and abusive when I crashed your thread. Funny that.

Just to show what a gentleman I am, I'll now leave your UV thread, it's yours :lol:

:roll: So you set out with the intent and desire to "crash" this thread? How gentlemanly of you. :roll: I don't care whether you participate in this thread or not. But if you start assuming I mean something when I clearly don't, i'm gonna call you on it. It's not me getting "upset and abusive", it's me clarifying things. Like I said, you have trouble understanding what I mean sometimes.

I don't see how posting information is equated to "crashing" threads. I don't believe I "crashed" any discussion on zeovit, just provided some observations and possible explanations.

Layton

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I blew out the rocks today, and there was a significant increase in detritus come off them. That's a sure sign that de-nitrification has kicked up a gear.

I'll measure nitrates at the end of the week and see if it has had any effect yet. Judging by what is coming from the rocks, I would think it has.

Layton

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Not all detritus is the same, it depends just exactly what you blew off was.

But to me, quantity of "detritus", is a general indicator of bioload, and DOC concentration, and general health of the bacterial population, and other things also, it is surprising what you can tell.

If I'm running PO4 extremely low, and I turkey bast the rocks, I'll get a lot less detritus, than if i've allowed PO4 to rise. That's despite feeding the same.

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Not all detritus is the same, it depends just exactly what you blew off was.

But to me, quantity of "detritus", is a general indicator of bioload, and DOC concentration, and general health of the bacterial population, and other things also, it is surprising what you can tell.

If I'm running PO4 extremely low, and I turkey bast the rocks, I'll get a lot less detritus, than if i've allowed PO4 to rise. That's despite feeding the same.

My ortho-phosphate is undetectable, has been for virtually all the tanks life, except for about a month ago, when I detected a faint blue colour on the test for a couple of weeks. Nitrates were just over 5 the day I added the UV.

Detritus is a good indication of bioload, and bacterial activity.

Layton

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I didn't realise you could actually detect Po4, was it a Salifert kit?

If you can actually detect any orthophosphate at all with one of those, you have a problem.

How often do you clean your glass?

And does a UV help with PO4?

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I didn't realise you could actually detect Po4, was it a Salifert kit?

If you can actually detect any orthophosphate at all with one of those, you have a problem.

How often do you clean your glass?

And does a UV help with PO4?

You say that like the Hanna kit is actually any more useful :wink:

Don't clean the glass that often, two or three weeks usually. It gets corraline on which is more annoying than any other sort of algae. Also depends on whether I keep up with syphoning, as my flow isn't really up to keeping all the detritus it needs to in suspension to get to the skimmer.

The UV provides additional food for the bacteria which perform denitrification (and any other bacteria that want's it), by splitting larger organics. It's these bacteria which are responsible for storing phosphate in sand beds, and are the ones which purge phosphate out of rock (the cooking/shedding process).

So yes, it will help with phosphate I guess by the fact that denitrifaction and phosphate go hand in hand. The bacteria try to saturate themselves with phosphate. They absorb much more than they need to live and reproduce, so if you can get them to the skimmer (usually in the form of detritus) then you're removing phosphate.

Layton

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It's also strongly linked with DOC's, I'm guessing that's what you've got the UV unit to help with, right?

Yip. I've got a few large soft corals in the tank, so it splits the aromatic rings in the terpine toxins they release, making them available to bacteria. The UV just makes DOC's smaller so bacteria can use them much easier, then the bacteria are removed through skimming.

Better method than using carbon to me.

Layton

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