Another great display of your water knowledge, When I first started out in the hobby I was told by an old boy" you're a water keeper, not a fishkeeper". At the time I had no idea what he meant, but over the years I learnt and understood what he meant. Understand your water get your water right and the fish will look after themselves.. And you have that skill and understanding.
I got a 25 watt Aqua ultra violet twist, mainly for the smaller size of unit and for the purpose of water clarity and bacteria control. Did its job within 24 hours and I oversized the unit for my future tank upgrade.
That’s a big unit. Looks quality. The outside box is great. Cool idea to get the flow rate dialled in. The chiller will keep the dog warm on a cooler day. 😁
@@ParkersReef hi Sam I have a question for you please if you can help iv bought the shadow over flow system 16 inc and I’m having trouble getting the water level right if I reduce the flow with the tap it’s quite but not enough flow in the sump and find the water goes a bit cloudy if I open up the tap I get good flow tank goes clear but it’s noisy in the box iv tried with the standard high of pipe recommended in the box and I can get it quite but I reduce the flow coming back into the sump do you have any idea what I can do please thanks
@@ParkersReef the pump I have is 2800 l p/h and the noise is from the box when the water is low in the box if I raise the water level in the box by closing the tap the noise goes but the flow coming back into my sump is reduced by a lot
@@enricodigenova8112 ok so the noise is coming from the box? As in, the water is falling too far from the front box to the back box creating a waterfall? I like to have the full siphon as low as possible, but the partial syphon as high in the box as I can safely go. Gives you more room for it to catch the full siphon when power is restored, but the high second pipe will reduce the waterfall noise as the water level in the box will be higher
Excellent video Sam! Can I make a suggestion and plumb your chiller before your steriliser? You'll want the chiller to be receiving water as close to the display tank temperature as possible as its the chiller inlet temperature that it controls to. Unless you are controlling temperature from another probe, any heating the steriliser provides will trick the chiller into thinking the whole tank is hotter than it is, and the chiller may over cool the whole system. Whether the chiller is extracting heat before or after the uv steriliser won't matter for the overall system temperature, but where you measure your controlled variable does. Just my 2c!
Yeah I've had a few say this, seems to be 2 very different trains of thought! I feel like putting the chiller before something that creates extra heat that then returns to your display is tricking yourself. I bought the chiller to keep the water cool, so why let warm water come out of the UV, go through the entire tank then finally make it back to the chiller for cooling instead of cool it instantly? I have the ability to put a temp probe elsewhere, but I don't see why I would want to? Surely I want to regulate the temperature of the water that is getting sent to the display tank?
@@ParkersReef You bought the chiller to keep the *display* cool, not your return, since that is the temperature your livestock is experiencing and therefore the temperature you want to set and control. The chiller doesn't care about nor regulate the temperature of water it is sending *out* (which is what your return line will see), only what it senses coming *in*, which should approximate your display temperature as closely as possible. When running, the chiller outlet could very well be 20 degrees, which will go up your return and mix with your display until it cools back to your target temperature of, say, 25. The chiller turns itself off and on to provide cold water via the return when required so it can mix with the display tank and keep it roughly where you've set your chiller temperature. Now say the UV heats the water going through it by one degree (probably excessive but for sake of argument...). So for example, your tank temperature is sitting at 25, but in your configuration, your chiller sees 26. If your chiller is set to 25, your chiller will turn on and chill the water coming out of the UV until it senses that the water coming out of the UV is 25. To achieve this, it has to cool the entire system, including your display, to 24 degrees to compensate for the localised temperature increase at the UV. But you don't want a display of 24, you want it at 25! Your return line temperature will always fluctuate based on if heaters, chillers, UV etc. is on, and at the end of the day, doesn't matter in and of itself. What matters is your DISPLAY temperature - and the equipment should be serving the purpose of keeping your display where you want it, not your return. Maybe the return is 28 when the heaters are on, maybe 22 when the chiller is on, but if the temperature control equipment is set to sense and control to the display tank temperature, the return temperature will meander around to achieve the display temperature goal regardless of what your UV is doing to the water temperature. That is why you should either have your chiller before your UV, or have whatever temperature probe is sensing the controlled temperature for your chiller as close to the display as possible. The heat from the UV will be taken out regardless. Sorry I'm garbage at explaining things - I hope that makes sense...
That is a good explanation and I appreciate the time you have taken to explain it - there is a vital point you made there about how the chiller does not see nor care about the temperature it sends out - only the temperature it sees coming in. That is key and makes your approach make a lot more sense now although I am starting to think it actually makes next to no difference as both approaches have pros and cons. I totally agree, you are maintaining temperature in the display, not the return. Now if I were to go chiller, then uv and I want my tank temperature at 25, this is how I see it would play out: Tank is at 25, goes through sump, through chiller, chiller does nothing as temp is correct, then to UV which heats the water up another 1 degree and sends it to the display which in turn heats it up above the temperature I actually want. This continues until the display gets too hot (all whilst the chiller sat idle) and eventually the chiller kicks in. The chiller would never actually see the actual temperature of the water that is being sent back to the display, until it has over heated the display - effectively putting your tank on a temperature cycle no? Like I said, I am beginning to think we are splitting hairs and it makes little to no difference :D
@@ParkersReef I'm an engineer... Splitting hairs is what I do best 😂 But I love the chat - both sides can learn stuff! So all chillers and heaters work based on hysteresis - that is they will cycle on and off to remain within a certain margin of your target. I think the Teco's stock hysteresis is one degree, so if you're targeting 25, your chiller won't turn on until it sees 26 at the inlet. So you're right, you'll get some heating before the chiller kicks in, but it will do this regardless of where the UV is placed relative to the chiller. If your uv is before your chiller, you're shifting this cycle down, say, a degree, but you'll still have the cycling. There's no real difference here. The only way to fix this is to reduce the hysteresis setting on the chiller. I guess my main point was what temperature you're controlling to should be the display temperature and independent of the UV. The UV's outlet temperature may change if it's off for whatever reason, bypassed for maintenance, or the bulb characteristics which can change over time. Maybe the flow through the UV changes over time due to pump fouling so it gears the water more. This may change your display's temperature because the chiller is fighting to keep the UV outlet constant, not the display. Now how big a deal is this? Is this even a deal? I can't honestly answer that question, but at the end of the day, why not remove the variable by changing the order and never have to think about it?
@@N0r53f1r3 yeah fair call too! The UV temperature differential is one thing I feel will remain fairly constant, it's on 24/7. But, say the pump did foul and run slower, in turn heating the water even more in the UV. I'd rather the chiller pick that up, than returning back to the tank as a slow stream of very warm water? But all being said, I still think it has little difference one way or the other :D
On point with that beast of a UV steriliser Sam 👏 From the camera 🎥 angle looking 👀 along your tank, was that two or three pieces of coral in there. 🤔 👍🏴
You probably dont give a damn but does any of you know a tool to get back into an instagram account..? I somehow lost the password. I would appreciate any help you can give me
What about running 2 UVs one for general purpose and another one for slow flow to avoid ick kinda bacterias.. is that a good approach (ignore cost) .. If yes , what would be the plumping considerations and and placements.. Also is it always needed to direct the treated water directly to the return pipe?? I am not doing this at all
Just came across your video and would love to know how I can order some of those clamps for my UV Sanitizer, do you have a link or a website? Thanks! Great set up btw!
Another great video, I'm looking at getting one or two of these units, I was hoping you were going to show how the bulb and sleeve bit works, can you change out the bulb whilst the unit is still plumbed, or do you have to drain the whole unit? Happy New Year mate.
If you mount the unit vertically I think you could leave it full of water, but it’s probably not a bad idea to drain it and remove the sleeve as well so you can clean that at the same time.
@@ParkersReef Ah ok, I can plumb shut off valves and a drain just for the UV then if mounted upright just unscrew and pull the sleeve and bulb out, cheers Sam
if you form an airbubble in your UV (air trapped in it instead of constant water flowing through) it will not be cooled by the water and get hot. It can burn the sleeve :)
Hey Sam, I have the same UV and chiller models (nice gear). Teco specs say the chiller should be Min 600 / Max 800 LPH. Has your chiller been working fine running at 1000 LPH to run in series with the UV ?
Thanks for walking through this. I am about to install a 360 gallon system and got the same 80 watt unit. I am looking to leverage it similar to your expectations. I assume I can run at a slightly lesser flow rate based on on the lesser volume. Any thoughts here based on your experience with the unit thus far? Separately, are you using low iron glass? I was convinced that it doesn’t make a difference on glass less than 3/4” thick, but wanted your opinion.
hey Chuck, they're great units and I wouldn't run my system differently if I were to build it again. The 80watt unit will work a treat on your 360g tank, wouldn't worry about slowing the flow more - you'll just get extra coverage with the same exposure rate if you leave it at recommended values. Yes my tank is low iron glass and it is one of those things that you cannot tell the difference unless next to another tank - but at the time it didn't cost me much more, so it was worth it. Also, my glass is 19mm thick, so basically 3/4 inch.
Hey mate. Awesome video as always. I purchased a 50W after watching this. Now that I got the unit the plumbing got me scratching my head. Any guidance you can give with regard to the step down from the 50mm to a manageable size and what products you used? I've looked at some stuff at newlifekey but I'm way out of my depth with this one.
Hey mate! Ah good stuff, we can get that sorted for you! I just went to bunnings and used reducer bushings to get down to a thread size that I could screw a 3/4 barb adapter into.
When I see something so large I wonder what is holding up the development of UVC LEDs for water sterilization. UV LEDs are not exactly rare these days and they are tiny, powerful, long lived, and consume a lot less energy.
Following yr build. Super it is. Topclass equipment. Details to the 'T'. I have a doubt regarding the uv sterilizer. I am soon setting up a Cade S21500. Since I won't have space to set it up away the way you did can I install it in the sump cabinet? If yes, what would be the best way to plumb it. I will also have a chiller. So do you think I should go or 2 separate pumps ? 1 for return and another one via uv to chiller and back to the sump. Thanks
Yeah if needed to fit in the cabinet, triple check what size can fit. You may need to mount vertical. Ideally a separate pump for chiller and UV, but if you can make it work on one pump - it sure makes plumbing a lot more simple
@@ParkersReef thanks a lot for yr advice. Will see which one fits. Pentairs are long even for a 40W or 50W model so will have to chk some other brands. Thanks once again 👍
Just to be sure myself, so you are running yr uv from the sump and again back to the sump via a chiller. Is my understanding of yr water paasage through uv correct ??
Hey David, I think I cover this pretty well at the 3min mark of the video. I use a 50mm pvc adaptor down to a thread which allows me to screw in some hose adaptors
I'm also going to be setting up my chiller on the same line as my HO uv sterilizer. I originally considered putting the chiller after the UV like you, but I might reverse it.. Here's what someone said about it on reef2reef: www.reef2reef.com/threads/advice-on-plumbing-plans.782236/post-8295164
Yeah, I’m going to politely disagree with that thought process :) Why would you want the water to go to the tank and heat that up before switching on the chiller? I set the chiller to the temperature I want the tank to be. If the water entering the chiller is hotter than that, it will chill it. If you’re worried about the chiller turning on more often, just set the hysteresis higher, but I personally set mine exactly at what I want the tank to be :)
Hi Sam, Are you able to give me contact details for the guy who made your brackets? I have just purchased the 40watt version & would like to get some mounting clamps! Cheers
@@ParkersReef Don‘t take me wrong, for sure a good product, but quite sure the „de Bary“ or other products would have done the same good job. The space below the tank is so limited, it’s a fight for every inch. BTW...I absolutely like your clean design and white tank. Amazing.
@@ParkersReef I can exactly tell you the difference. I took down the UV to install it permanently into my plumbing. Now I have to clean the glass two times a day instead of all couple of days. It makes a big difference here. Unfortunately de Bary decided to discontinue their UVC line.
I know, when I bought my UV, I was gonna add a set of brackets, then I saw the $$, I quickly thought of a DIY option, 2- 3/4” black Rubber strips, 4 stainless screws, 4 stainless washers, boom, you have a mount. You could also use 1/4 acrylic, and make a solid brackets rather easily.