I have a Bitron UV 35 watt bulb but l am wondering if l can put a 55 watt in it or do l have to change the whole thing.lts attached to a Oase box filter and lve a aquamax 12,000.pump but lm forever trying to keep mu water clear and lm wondering if a bigger uv bulb would help it. Janet.
Bitron uv.
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Welcome to the GPF @Janet.
I won't attempt to answer your UV question, as I am not a big believer in UV, nor have I ever used it.
However, I will tell you this - UV "works" for a specific kind of water clarity by killing the floating single cell algae. It is not specific though so it kills anything else that is single celled that passes by the light. And it leaves the dead algae in the pond if it doesn't make it to the mechanical filter. And there's nothing algae likes more in a pond than dead algae to feed on.
Address the reason for the unclear water and save yourself the trouble of worrying about the UV.
I won't attempt to answer your UV question, as I am not a big believer in UV, nor have I ever used it.
However, I will tell you this - UV "works" for a specific kind of water clarity by killing the floating single cell algae. It is not specific though so it kills anything else that is single celled that passes by the light. And it leaves the dead algae in the pond if it doesn't make it to the mechanical filter. And there's nothing algae likes more in a pond than dead algae to feed on.
Address the reason for the unclear water and save yourself the trouble of worrying about the UV.
Thank you for explaining how the UV works, sounds like 35w.is sufficient so l will clean my filter sponges more frequently and l will have to Hoover the very fine sediment that sits on the ledges.l was trying not to have to do this as long have a fine net spread across to stop herons visiting.Happy fish keeping.x
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If your unit is only rated for 35 watts, that is your limit. Look for a tag or a stamping on or inside the unit. There should be something stating xxwatts maximum.
Overloading the transformer or ballast beyond it's rating will damage the unit and can also short out the wiring.
Overloading the transformer or ballast beyond it's rating will damage the unit and can also short out the wiring.
j.w
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Thank you for explaining what l need to do. I have a two and a half thousand gallon pond and twenty four fish so l was wondering if l need a bigger UV, l will leave well alone l think.
I hope you got the point that you don't "need" UV filtration at all - it addresses only one type of green water issue. If you have recurrent green water, you need to address the reason why, and not just treat the symptom. Are those 24 fish all koi?
No green water just not very clear but l think l am not cleaning the filter enough.Some say leave it until the indicator shows but that doesn’t seem to work. The sponges were filthy, all nine of them.l will clean them again in seven days until hopefully the pond looks better. I use Envil filter bacteria and pond equaliser twice a year.Fish are breeding, plants growing, perimeters ok so maybe the filter is having to work extra hard for the amount of fish etc l have.