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I installed my UV sterilizer tonight. I'm not sure how far to slow down the flow on my filter to suit. Instructions for the sterilizer say for 99% destruction of micro-organisms, max flow should should be 127G per hr. My filter is an Eheim 2224 and, when on full throttle, is 185G per hr. I can adjust the flow down by moving the guage on the "out" hose, but although the instructions for the filter tell you that this is how you reduce the flow, it seems it is guess work as to how much the flow is reduced. There seems no way to tell.

I have turned it down to around half way & wonder if that should be about right. I don't want to waste the benefit of my UV by having the water pass over the UV light too fast, but on the other hand, I don't want to not filter the tank either.

Does anyone have any experience with the Eheim 2224 & by approx how much I have reduced the floor by setting it at half way?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers
TW

The ultra-scientific approach would be to measure the flow, Robyn. You could get a gallon jug and time how long it takes to fill and figure it out from there by converting the time using minutes or seconds or whatever it takes.

I ran the math for you so it would be SUPER easy. Just converting g/hr to g/s would be .03527778 g/s . If you divide 1 by that number, you get 28.35 seconds per gallon. so you want to fill your 1 gallon jug in 28 seconds or MORE.


EDIT: I forgot if it's easy to get gallon jugs in aussieland. If you want me to convert to liters or something lemme know. Also, I'm not sure if your gallon jugs are english or american, and if the flow on the eheim is measured in english or american gallons. It will make a little difference. So lemme know. I just assumed above the the units will mesh.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Thanks Matty for this info.

We think in litres & mls here in Aussieland and you're right to suppose I can't easily get my hands on something that would measure in USG.

Once I figure out how to get my filter to flow into a litre jug - without water going all over the carpet, maybe I could just post here how long that took & see what you say then about my flow rate. I have to say maths is NOT my strong point (although I haven't yet figured out what my strong point is) .

Thanks again Matty.

Cheers
TW

I'd just get a liter jug and do it right in the aquarium. While the jug has air in it you'll have to displace some water, so maybe take out a liter to begin with. Have your husband or some other useful assistant plug and unplug for you. This won't be a one person operation. Anyhow if you do it over the aquarium, the intake won't have to be moved and any water spilled will be into the aquarium, so essentially you are still keeping it a closed system.

So my math produced about 7.5 seconds for a liter to be filled up. 15 seconds or more for a 2 liter bottle would probably be easier and more accurate to time. Start the stopwatch when the water first enters the container and stop it when it first starts overflowing.

Good luck

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Hi,
A suggestion....
Since that would be really fast, it might be better to
simply get a 10L jug and see how long it takes to fill
that and divide it by 10.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Frank, you ruin the nicest fantasies...

I was leaning back in my chair with my eyes closed and thinking of poor TankWatcher trying to aim the Eheim outflow into a 1 gallon container while flicking on a stop watch AND not completely emptying his tank...



__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Toms makes a flow meter that you can order online, however you will need to go to the hardware store a purchase 2 -5/8's male hole repair adaptors. The meter comes with 3/4 and the standard is 5/8's poly pipe. It has to be garden hose adaptors because of threading on the meter. However I would suggest to all who want to add UV to filter system, to find out the flow rate before you purchase and buy the next size up in the UV. I know that that costs more but at least you get to use your filter at full flow.

DjRichie

"Don't Panic"

Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams

hahaha - funny guys. I'm yet to try the measuring of the flow yet - will see if I can manage it on the weekend - without any of the fantasised disasters But seriously, thanks for the tips.

Hi djrichie - thanks for the tips. Both the UV and the filter are rated for tanks much more than twice the size of mine, so it is not so much that I think either the filter or UV arent' up to the task, it's just a matter of knowing how much to tweak the filter to get the flow right. I didn't skimp on the UV purchas - no idea what they cost in US, but it set me back $389.

Matty - the helper will need to be other than hubby - I never did confess the purchase & I set it up when he had already gone to bed

Cheers
TW

Tonight being water change night, it seemed the night to do the first measure test. The result - I think I have turned the filter down too far. 1 Litre took 15 seconds, so I figure this to mean in an hour, only 240 L is filtered.

Matty (or anyone else that cares to) please feel free to check my maths & correct my errors. As said, maths is not my strong point.

My target is a max flow rate of 480 L.phr (filter at full throttle is 700 L.phr). So I plan to do another test at next water change (as that's the easiest time to do this).

480 L.phr turns my tank's volume over 5.25 times per hour -which is more than required, so I don't need to go all the way up to 480L, but 240 L.phr only turns it over 2.5 times an hour.

Cheers
TW

I was saying match it not to the tank but to match it to the filter flow rate. ie. if you filter pumps 250gal per hour than you try and match the UV 300gal per hour or better but not to much higher because you can heat up the water if it says inside the the Uv for to long. As far as prices go I found them starting 79.99 for a 9watt online. You can sometimes find them on sale for about 10.00 us dollars cheaper. Look at Bigalsonline.com or Petsoulutions.com but shipping would be the cost for you. I never and I mean I never buy anything like that from LFS cost is to high. They say they have overhead that online stores don't but disagree I know bigals and pet solution hae warehpouses and employees. I buy fish gravel food sometimes chemicals from them but that about it.

Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams

Hi,
It seems to me that if your UV recommends a flow of not
more than 127L/hr. The lowest you can turn your filter
down is 240L/hr and that is only turning your tank over
a little over twice an hour, it seems that you would be
better off setting the filter back where it runs most
efficiently and use a separate power head with a sponge
intake filter to run the UV system.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Yes Frank you can do that and I have use a UV system like that but it just makes te tank look cluttered and it adds about a $100.00 to total cost in additional parts. My point is why not just match the UV with the filter or visa versa. Its not that hard to do. There are so many styles of UV filters out there all with different flow rates. It's like cut a peice of wood, measure twice, cut once. This is something I learn about aquariums the hard way and th exspensive way I might add. Do your research and math first. Then go to the store, never buy something unless you know for sure. I'm not saying anyone has done anything wrong, but if you know it will work before you buy it than you have alot of less headaches and alot less fish water on your floor.

Dj Richie
"Don't Panic"

Did you see the 110 gal tank on America funniest Video last night. FUNNY LOL (Kids bike fell over and barely tapped the glass and 110 gals of water & fish on the floor

Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams

It seems to me that if your UV recommends a flow of not
more than 127L/hr. The lowest you can turn your filter
down is 240L/hr and that is only turning your tank over
a little over twice an hour, it seems that you would be

Frank, it's 127 Gallons/hr. Not 127L/hr.

The result - I think I have turned the filter down too far. 1 Litre took 15 seconds, so I figure this to mean in an hour, only 240 L is filtered.

Yep you are running at about half what you can run. You want 1 liter in 7.5-8 seconds. I'm sure it'll take a little tweaking. I'd settle on 9ish seconds if you get it there.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

G not L
Thats what I get for thinking with only a 1/4 cup of
coffee this morning.
Seems like that twice I've done that kind of thing
and each time Matt's caught me. At least someones
reading! Thanks Matt!

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Hi guys & thanks to all the advice.

This post will be a bit lengthy, but I want to reply to everyone who has helped me here.

Dj Ritchie, if starting from scratch your advice about matching the filter to UV at the time of purchase, is great advice & I would have definitely followed it. But I'm working with what I have at hand & due to various circumstances, neither of the two items were meant initially to be used together. Matty & Frank may even remember helping me around 6mths ago, when I initially tried setting up the UV, via a pump (at the time I had lengthy conversations here about flow rate, how much flow rate is lost via head, etc). I bought a pump with flow rate matched to the UV. (Tank set-up at the time was one of those all-in-one's, with light & filter included in the hood on top of the tank. I couldn't run the UV through the filter (due to type of filter it was) so that's why I planned to run it through a pump. Matty & Frank, you might remember, I gave up, as the hood didn't allow me any access to get the hoses from the UV/Pump into the tank.

So, my expensive UV sat in the cupboard for months, until I decided to convert the tank, chucking out the old hood, buying a sep. light unit & installing this 2nd hand eheim filter I bought on ebay about 9 months ago (it's been sitting in the garage til now). This filter was meant for a 3ft tank, but I was new to fishkeeping then & have since found it is a bit smaller than I'd like for a 3ft tank, but it is really too big for this tank. If it didn't have the ability to reduce the flow, then I'd sell it & buy a new Eheim Ecco (matching the flow to the UV), but it can be adjusted, so like Matty says, I will tweak it until I get it right.

I'm in Australia & I find that all you get much cheaper in the US, I have to pay much more for here. Don't understand why & don't think this is the case with all consumer items, but it is the case in the fish hobby. Not only are fish things costly, many things US fishkeepers can get easily, I can't get at all. I bought the UV on line & it would have cost more, if bought in LFS.

Otherwise, everything you say makes perfect sense and thanks heaps for taking the time to set it all out for me.

Frank, I think I have confused everyone with my talk of litres,US Gallons, max & min flow rates etc. Not surprised, as I confuse myself all the time

Just to set things straight.

Tank = 90 Litres or 23.5 US G
Filter's Max Flow rate = 700 litres per hour or 185 US G per hour
99% kill rate for UV Filter acheived at max flow rate = 480 litres per hour, or 127 US G per hour
Test Results Last Night = 1 Litre pumped in 15 seconds, which means 243 Litres per hour or 63.4 US G per hour (obviously not enough).

But remember, I can adjust it all the way up to 700 litres per hour, but want no more than 480 litres per hour. So I have heaps of room to move here & get it just right.

So, as Matty says "a little tweaking" will be required before I get this right. Once I have it right, I will put a little mark on the dial, so I always know where to set flow after maintenance.

Cheers
TW

I figured it was a coffee related error Frank

That's a good idea with the marker I hadn't thought about that for some reason.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Well, I just don't get my filter. Is it too much to expect if the info given on a filter claims it's output is 700 litres per hour, that it is true. Well, according to my tests tonight, I need to leave the filter running on full throttle & if I do that, it pumps 1 litre in 10.5 seconds. My poor maths skills calculated this to be 342 litres per hour only. How can this be. Aren't Eheim meant to be reliable. Glad I didn't put this on the 3ft.

It is still okay for this tank, which has a max capacity of 90L, but with gravel, wood & plants, it would actually hold somewhat less. Deducting for the gravel, it will still be turning the tank over around 4 times in an hour - but I wouldn't want it on a tank bigger than mine. Yet, it is rated for tanks up to 250L.

It's true that I might be a bit out with my timing, but this is a big difference.

Cheers
TW

Is the filter media new and clean, do you have any elbows in the return or suction line? They are all restrictive to flow rate. What size is you tubing? Also, remember that when manufactures test their products they are using a clean unrestricted filter hence better selling points.

If you really want to be able to check the flow rate get a flow rate meter. The are cheap I have seen them on ebay. Toms makes one. Look in my earlier post, for the info I gave earlier. I also find it useful in determining when to clean the filter like when you use hang-ons and when the water spills over the suction tube you know it time.

You stated earlier if you start from scratch than buying compatible equipment is easy. I disagree I not a Trump and have to buy thing one peace at a time like most of us. You Just have to do the math before you buy the peace and make sure it is compatible. I Have found it cheaper that way, you don't buy thins that don't work or buy somthing that you cost more than you need.


DjRichie
"Don't Panic"

Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams

Hi,
Along with what was mentioned, is the filter assembled the
way the instructions provide? Have you got the media
packed too tight?

Lastly, what kind of head are you pumping into? By that
I mean where is the filter in relation to the tank? Is the
tank on a "tall" cabinet vs a lower one. Once the pump
pulls the water out of the tank, it has to pull it through
the media, and then shove it back up hill, into the tank.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--