UVC FILTER QUESTION

[Tyke]

I have just bought a second hand uvc filter but found the box part of the filter to be cracked.

The lid with the uvc in is fine so i have cut a section from my normal filter box lid and fitted the smaller uvc lid on my old filter.

Does the filter inside have to be in complete darkness to work as the square i cut wasent a perfect fit and there is a slight gap letting the light in.

The uvc lid is ok though.

[Salar]

I am not an expert but from experience the UVC will do most of the work killing the bugs that make water cloudy, the biological filter would need to be in darkness to work best when its on its own but works well enough as a mechanical filter when combined with a UV thing. Make sure the bulb is working if its second-hand though, they only last a year or two.

[Ed Matysiak]

It should do the job fine. On the other hand if you do notice water clarity is impared cover the hole with something.

[Tyke]

Yes the bulb is working fine as i had a peek inside.

I dont expect 100% clearance but as long as i can see near the bottom ill be happy.

I will cover the little gaps up if i dont see any improvement in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for the replys..

[davidP]

Remember that the UV bulbs lose their efficiency over time, even though they still may seem as bright as before. If the filter is more than a couple of years old may be worth investing in a new tube anyway.

[Salar]

Just as an update on this and my previous thread - I tried to clear my pond with a biological, then a UV filter and it did not really work. I then drained the pond and found the bottom was pretty deep in decomposed leaves, which the fish were stirring up. I drained the pond, cleaned it, removed most of the overgrown weed and refilled. My theory is that a filter system has a better chance of keeping the pond clear than it has of trying to clear a murky pond! Unfortunately in the process my largest carp died, over-stressed I think. Amazingly an orfe that leapt out of the dustbin I was using as a holding tank and was found totally motionless and half dried on the ground recovered, and so did another carp that leapt out and got himself totally smothered in mud before being rescued.

[Tyke]

I have also cleaned my pond out in april as it had dead and rotting leaves on the bottom.

The murky green water comes with the sunny warm weather and algea.

The uvc filter is slowly clearing the pond but i have to clean the sponge filters on my blagdon 2000 pump every couple of days.

Ill be getting a net this Autumn to stop the leaves falling in the pond again.

[chesters1]

uv in use only kill the green beasties they dont remove the now dead ones , filters unless multistage only improve the water the bacteria in the filter only remove some pollutants and only mechanical filtration can remove suspended particles . yes you will have to clean the filters regulary but it should get easier when it only has to remove fish doo doo`s ,remember to keep some rain water to wash the filters out in as tap water kills the microbes that keep the bioside working ,when i had my tanks the water went through a 3 stage filter then through a diatomic filter, this filter blocked after a couple of hours with the amount of unseen things lurking in a tank

[Tyke]

Oh dear ive been using tap water to clean the filters with.

From now on ill use pond or rain water.

[Salar]

Tyke:

but i have to clean the sponge filters on my blagdon 2000 pump every couple of days.

Ill be getting a net this Autumn to stop the leaves falling in the pond again.

Ditto, on Chester's advice I'll be getting a net. However, I had a similar problem with a blocking sponge inlet filter so I took it out. The pump is an impeller type and (so far) has not blocked up as there is a coarse cage around the inlet hole. The cack is sucked up by the pump and deposited in the mechanical filter sponges above the biological filters, and only needs clearing monthly (all I do is wash out the top later of sponge) Some pumps - not mine - are designed to pump solid matter so they will suck out muck and deposit it in the filter box.