I had an interesting conversation with the Pentair Rep about UV sterilizers in the reef tank

[Mark Novack]

I have a 39watt Deltec and with the low flow suggested it fills with sediment and needs regular cleanings. I did the first cleaning at 6 months and it was abominable. A load of sludge. If I use it again I'll either up the flow or place it where I can pull it easily. Its a piece I liked to place in the back. Now that I have moved my aquarium away from the wall where my arm fits, including the shoulder, between wall and glass, perhaps I can work it from behind.

I will make a place but before i use it I wait to see if I need it. My tank is 1/5th filled with RO and will take another 2 days before I even turn it on. It won't see salt for 3 days and rock for at least another week. I'm probably getting ahead of myself again.

Mark
Patience old boy, patience! Reefing makes my OCD kick in like nothing else can.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Yes, @Freenow54 , Pentair considers the paper towel test to be “mandatory.”

 

[mottomegl]

Pentair main Buisness is the pool industry and water treatment so it is very possible that there studies are accurate just do to the nature of there business and having to produce these results for the EPA and DEP and for the pool industry were health safety is a must and they are using those results for the aquarium industry

 

[AJsReef]

I run a Pentair 80w HO on my 200g system, roughly 3.75-4x turnover and have been happy with the results.

That said, the communication I’ve had w/ Pentair has been lacking. Slow to respond, sometimes no response. Reef industry is definitely not their key demographic for sales.

 

[hart24601]

Pentair main Buisness is the pool industry and water treatment so it is very possible that there studies are accurate just do to the nature of there business and having to produce these results for the EPA and DEP and for the pool industry were health safety is a must and they are using those results for the aquarium industry

This would also be my guess for the money they spent - there are pretty tight controls when it comes to rates for human contact in pools or if they have industrial sized version as either the same or as sister company for drinking water plants with exposure rates and rates over time vs bulb degradation. We in the hobby are pretty much left with those as our best guides because no place is going to spend the money researching UV on reef tanks, not only would the benefit be low to sales but there Are so many variables. Drinking water is pretty consistent - but reef? How many organics are present, how about particulate matter, is the tank filtered with socks, rollers, nothing, prefilter on uv? All this impacts the unit. How about bacterial load of that water in a reef, the counts drastically vary by orders of magnitude from tank to tank.

 

[Gundy]

Ok, so a reservoir feeding a UV is slowly pumped. Is that any better than pumping it through the UV 10 times faster, with 10 times reduced contact time, but 10 times more contacts?

It depends. If you want to control algae and have crystal clear water, a faster flow through the UV is what you want. This is because algae is very susceptible to UV and a faster flow is necessary because algae replicates very rapidly. Pentair has listed the flow rates for this type of sterilization. If, however you want to control bacteria and Protozoa, you slow the flow way down. This way you have a slow enough flow, plus an extended exposure time through the UV. If the flow is too fast the bacteria won’t get damaged or killed. Personally, in my opinion, this is the biggest mistake people make when trying to control Protozoa. They buy too small a unit and have too fast a flow. When it comes to UV, bigger is better.

 

[Gundy]

I run a Pentair 80w HO on my 200g system, roughly 3.75-4x turnover and have been happy with the results.

That said, the communication I’ve had w/ Pentair has been lacking. Slow to respond, sometimes no response. Reef industry is definitely not their key demographic for sales.

Maybe I just got lucky when I got connected to this particular rep. You are right in that they they have a lot of products and aquariumUV’s are just a small portion of their products. I do have the name and direct number of the guy that helped me though.

 

[Steve Fast]

I have a 39watt Deltec and with the low flow suggested it fills with sediment and needs regular cleanings. I did the first cleaning at 6 months and it was abominable. A load of sludge. If I use it again I'll either up the flow or place it where I can pull it easily. Its a piece I liked to place in the back. Now that I have moved my aquarium away from the wall where my arm fits, including the shoulder, between wall and glass, perhaps I can work it from behind.

I will make a place but before i use it I wait to see if I need it. My tank is 1/5th filled with RO and will take another 2 days before I even turn it on. It won't see salt for 3 days and rock for at least another week. I'm probably getting ahead of myself again.

Mark
Patience old boy, patience! Reefing makes my OCD kick in like nothing else can.

FYSA... My thoughts from another thread...

Post in thread 'Sizing a UV for Reef Tank - Any truth in this ?' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sizing-a-uv-for-reef-tank-any-truth-in-this.422827/post-4920122

Sizing a UV for Reef Tank - Any truth in this ?

I saw where you posted about it killing ones that do get through the uv, agreed. It’s the benthic ones that have been posted as the source of reinfection What about the uv proof threads vs the research paper info above, try and locate just one. If unable to, change plans And what about...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[bumpyj38]

A very interesting read. The only thing I can personally add (Pentair 40W on each of my 150-gallon tanks) is that they like to ‘pop’ various types of circuit breakers, somewhat at random. I read the best strategy is to isolate them so only one UV unit is plugged into a single outlet without any other device. Even with that, I might get 1 hour, 1/2 a day, maybe a day and a half, and when I swing by to take at look the circuit breaker I’m using it has been tripped. It happens with both units, where I will reset them both and one might be off five hours later and the other is still doing fine. Go figure. (?) (And yes, both my units passed the required ‘paper towel’ test.)

Weird that people are having issues with it popping a breaker. I have mine on power monitoring. It’s never gone over 0.4amps in 8 months.