Building a 250w UV --- Think this will work

[o2manyfish]

Hey Guys,

I was really impressed with the AquaConnect 250w UV Sterilizer. It uses a 250w DE bulb is a very small T shaped unit, capable of several thousands of gallons per hour of flow.


So I was thinking of perhaps mounting an unshielded 250w Halide bulb over one of my sumps. Or perhaps carefully removing the lens of a 400.

I am not that familiar with the properties of UV light. So will the spread from an unfiltered bulb provide UV sterilization. I know without lenses the UV from the Halide bulbs kill the coral tissue in a relatively short time.

Please provide thoughts on this.

Dave B

[simon.007]

Want to know too...

[CCG]

Maybe but I kind of don’t think so. You’ll get a lot of UV from an unshielded DE bulb but it may not be enough to do what you want it to do. I think UV light is down in the 380nm range (I of course could be wrong). While DE bulbs may have some light in that range the majority of light from the bulb doesn’t come close. I think you would have to have a bulb that put out the majority of its light in that range in order to be effective. It would be an interesting experiment though. This is JMO as I am NOT a lighting expert. HTH

Colin

[rock455]

One other little thing --- to really utilize UV to sterilize the water you MUST have a true UV bulb --- oh by the way -==you dont want to EVER look into a UV bulb because it could blind you! Above might be fun to try but functionally I don't believe that it will work JMO -