DIY UV sterilization?

[gruntledweasel]

I had been thinking about getting a UV sterilizer, but happened to google up something interesting. A guy who built his own eprom eraser using germicidal UV bulbs. Note the price difference between this guy's project and the commercial clarifier setups. I also think it'd be easier to work around size constraints. It wouldn't make much sense with my current setup, but it would be cool if one could build one of these into a res somehow. The only problem I can see is that pretty much all the materials we use block UV-C pretty well. (Most things do). Also, I'd want to run a regular fluorescent light in the same enclosure off the same switch, so I'd know real fast if the germicidal light was on (that stuff is really bad mojo).

[Gooserider]

You could do it, but there was a lengthy discussion on the topic a while back, and it appears that alot of the biologicals that some have encountered tend to be stuff that sticks to surfaces and grows from them. This would mean that the UV light wouldn't do much good since the biologicals wouldn't go through it to be killed.

I decided at least that the end result wouldn't be worth the effort and expense. You are better off spending your money on biocides that kill stuff anywhere in the system.

Gooserider

[gruntledweasel]

Originally Posted by Gooserider

I decided at least that the end result wouldn't be worth the effort and expense. You are better off spending your money on biocides that kill stuff anywhere in the system.

Gooserider

Fair enough. If you're talking about this thread, the feeling I got was that clarifiers are helpful (h4rm0nix was satisfied with his), but might not be worth the expense and hassle of fitting the commercial models in the case. A homebrewed setup wouldn't have those problems. Of course, I wouldn't argue that the thing is any kind of substitute for a good biocide in the loop. I was just thinking that this wouldn't be all that difficult a mod to work in if one were building a fair-sized res or BBen-style airtrap, and it couldn't hurt to be sterilizing the lowest velocity point in the system. The res is where my only growth problems in the past have started. Twenty or thirty dollars is pretty reasonable for a mod that's so potentially beneficial, imo. Only real problem is that you can't have whatever container it's in visible while the clarifier's in operation.

That said, I'm not really planning on doing it either. Just thought I'd point out the possibilities.

[Butcher]

Hmm that site'll be handy if I ever get into eprom programming though.

[Gooserider]

Well the big thing would be to have the container for the clarifier be OPAQUE.... I was considering trying to do a home brew setup, and was thinking in terms of building a PVC res, with the bulb inside it so that no UV would be able to escape. I still think it's doable, but not worth the effort.

Gooserider