Aquarium or Pond Green Water Control; UV Sterilizer

 

Pictures of an UV Sterilizer System for the Clarification Green or Cloudy Water in Aquariums
Updated 1-2-19

This is a basic post that more entails the use of pictures that were provided to me courtesy Paul Phillips to demonstrate via photos the progress of tank water clarification with the use of an AAP Custom 15 Watt UV Sterilizer/Clarifier (no longer built).
Premium Aquarium/Pond UV Sterilizers

Before I proceed, I should note that this is not limited to the use of the custom 15 Watt UV, as any well made UV can perform green water control, however level 1 UV Sterilization (what I recommend) and level 2 UV Sterilization often requires better equipment, installation and flow rates.
Levels of Sterilization

Sadly much of the UV equipment now being sold can at best perform green water control, not the more effective level one sterilization. Besides the before mentioned UV Sterilizer, consider the premium TMC Vecton/Pond Advantage line of UV Sterilizers as these not only are durable, but bluntly the best non commercial Pond Green Water Control UV Clarifiers at any price.
What is noteworthy is even if green water clarification is all you are looking for, a true UV Sterilizer will clear and maintain green water much more quickly. It is also noteworthy that most UV Clarifiers are of much lower quality build and only use medium pressure UV lamps which have only a 7% UVC output; so when one compares the price and effectiveness over just three years, the savings for one of these cheapie Amazon or eBay UV Clarifiers quickly fades away compared to a true quality True UV Sterilizer such as the Vecton or Advantage!!

TMC Vecton, Advantage Aquarium, Pond UV Sterilizer

Please Click on all Pictures to enlarge for a better view

The first picture demonstrates his aquarium system showing the intake adapter, return adapter, the power head/pump, and the TMC UV Sterilizer under the aquarium.

I would also suggest the use of a Pre filter such as the API Filter Max #3 (or a Sponge Filter such as the API Hydro Sponge #3) for improved UV Sterilization as this lowers debris/turbidity in the water column which in turn improves the effectiveness of the UV Sterilizer. Other than the lack of a form of pre-filtration, this is an excellent set up.


This second picture demonstrates a before and after of this aquarium with the application of the UV Sterilizer:


This final photo demonstrates a day 1 through day 7 view of this same aquarium when viewed from the side panel (this view is through a 48 inch column of water and thus will show any cloudy/green water more readily):


As a final note, to maintain the effectiveness of this or any UV Sterilizer, the aquarium keeper should change the UV Bulb every six months; in this particular UV Sterilizer the required bulb is the G15T8 UV Bulb

I would also suggest reading this article in the section dealing with Cloudy & Green Water for other suggestions and causes of Green/Cloudy Water in freshwater aquariums:
Basic Freshwater Aquarium Care

Further Reading for dealing with sick aquarium fish:

Fish Diseases | How to Treat Sick Fish

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