is it wise to run the UV steralizer 24 hours a day? assuming that you only
desire a 99.9% steralization rate you don't have to run the steralizer that
much (depending upon gph through the steralizer and tank size). I've read:

9.2 * (tank size / gph through steralizer) = hours a day UV steralizer must
be on to attain 99.9% steralization rate (assuming uniform mixing). This
said my calculation is at most 7 hours a day, should I just run it for 8
hours a day and save my bulb life and power bill?

Should I run it 24 hours a day to achieve 99.999% steralization or for 8
hours a day?

Along these lines, I would like to know if anyone has diy ozone generator?
maybe big enough to use on swimming pool also. Any electronics techs out
there with ideas? I am also a tech.

As to you chris, why run it 24 hours, would eat the bulbs fast that way.
And not do any better job. Best to check manufacturer's recommendations.
Just my thoughts

"Christopher" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
is it wise to run the UV steralizer 24 hours a day? assuming that you only
desire a 99.9% steralization rate you don't have to run the steralizer
that
much (depending upon gph through the steralizer and tank size). I've
read:

9.2 * (tank size / gph through steralizer) = hours a day UV steralizer
must
be on to attain 99.9% steralization rate (assuming uniform mixing). This
said my calculation is at most 7 hours a day, should I just run it for 8
hours a day and save my bulb life and power bill?

Should I run it 24 hours a day to achieve 99.999% steralization or for 8
hours a day?

The bulb life will go way down if you turn it off and on

Christopher wrote:

is it wise to run the UV sterilizer 24 hours a day? assuming that you only
desire a 99.9% sterilization rate you don't have to run the sterilizer that
much (depending upon gph through the sterilizer and tank size). I've read:

9.2 * (tank size / gph through sterilizer) = hours a day UV sterilizer must
be on to attain 99.9% sterilization rate (assuming uniform mixing). This
said my calculation is at most 7 hours a day, should I just run it for 8
hours a day and save my bulb life and power bill?

Should I run it 24 hours a day to achieve 99.999% sterilization or for 8
hours a day?

the manufacturer has no recommended run time
double helix 36W

"James Thompson" wrote in message
t...
Along these lines, I would like to know if anyone has diy ozone generator?
maybe big enough to use on swimming pool also. Any electronics techs out
there with ideas? I am also a tech.

As to you chris, why run it 24 hours, would eat the bulbs fast that way.
And not do any better job. Best to check manufacturer's recommendations.
Just my thoughts

"Christopher" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
is it wise to run the UV steralizer 24 hours a day? assuming that you
only
desire a 99.9% steralization rate you don't have to run the steralizer
that
much (depending upon gph through the steralizer and tank size). I've
read:

9.2 * (tank size / gph through steralizer) = hours a day UV steralizer
must
be on to attain 99.9% steralization rate (assuming uniform mixing).
This
said my calculation is at most 7 hours a day, should I just run it for 8
hours a day and save my bulb life and power bill?

Should I run it 24 hours a day to achieve 99.999% steralization or for 8
hours a day?

is turning it on and off once a day that bad for it? I would think the fact
that I would be running it for 1/3 of the time would outweigh the shortening
of life from the on/off cycles (I would just put it on a timer after all).

"m.dekort" wrote in message
...
The bulb life will go way down if you turn it off and on

Christopher wrote:

is it wise to run the UV sterilizer 24 hours a day? assuming that you
only
desire a 99.9% sterilization rate you don't have to run the sterilizer
that
much (depending upon gph through the sterilizer and tank size). I've
read:

9.2 * (tank size / gph through sterilizer) = hours a day UV sterilizer
must
be on to attain 99.9% sterilization rate (assuming uniform mixing). This
said my calculation is at most 7 hours a day, should I just run it for 8
hours a day and save my bulb life and power bill?

Should I run it 24 hours a day to achieve 99.999% sterilization or for 8
hours a day?

http://www.aquasite.com/knowledge/ti..._reactor.shtml


"James Thompson" wrote in message
t...
Along these lines, I would like to know if anyone has diy ozone generator?
maybe big enough to use on swimming pool also. Any electronics techs out
there with ideas? I am also a tech.

As to you chris, why run it 24 hours, would eat the bulbs fast that way.
And not do any better job. Best to check manufacturer's recommendations.
Just my thoughts

"Christopher" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
is it wise to run the UV steralizer 24 hours a day? assuming that you
only
desire a 99.9% steralization rate you don't have to run the steralizer
that
much (depending upon gph through the steralizer and tank size). I've
read:

9.2 * (tank size / gph through steralizer) = hours a day UV steralizer
must
be on to attain 99.9% steralization rate (assuming uniform mixing).
This
said my calculation is at most 7 hours a day, should I just run it for 8
hours a day and save my bulb life and power bill?

Should I run it 24 hours a day to achieve 99.999% steralization or for 8
hours a day?

Is a $20 bulb every year really worth it? Run it 24 hours a day.


"Christopher" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
is it wise to run the UV steralizer 24 hours a day? assuming that you only
desire a 99.9% steralization rate you don't have to run the steralizer
that
much (depending upon gph through the steralizer and tank size). I've
read:

9.2 * (tank size / gph through steralizer) = hours a day UV steralizer
must
be on to attain 99.9% steralization rate (assuming uniform mixing). This
said my calculation is at most 7 hours a day, should I just run it for 8
hours a day and save my bulb life and power bill?

Should I run it 24 hours a day to achieve 99.999% steralization or for 8
hours a day?

Actually, the 9.2 factor will give you 99.99 % throughput through the
sterilizer. To get 99.9% throughput, the factor is 6.9.
See http://www.wideopenwest.com/~brucege...ver/index.html
for details.

One strategy is to set the flow rate through the sterilizer so that one pass
kills target organisms you wish to kill. If you set the flow rate slow
enough that everything you want to kill is killed, then run your sterilizer
long enough to "turnover" the tank water once or twice a day,
and then shut the sterilizer off.

Basically, the more slowly you put water through the sterilizer, the more UV
exposure every bit of water passing through the sterilizer receives. If
you have a 36 watt sterilizer with about a 3 inch diameter chamber for the
water, and your flow rate is about 100 gallons per hour, then you are
probably irradiating your water at about a 100 microwatt-seconds dose, which
is
enough to kill most bacteria, algae, and many protozoa. (This is only a
crude estimate; I am working on developing some assessment tools on my
website which will provide more specific advice..) If you are using a lower
wattage sterilizer, or a lower diameter sterilizer, then your flow rate will
need to be lower still to achieve the same dose.

In the article I wrote cited above, I show that when you have run 99.9% of
the water through the sterilizer at least one time, in actuality 99.2% of
water has passed through 2 or more times, and 96.8% will have passed through
the sterilizer 3 or more times! I recommend 6.9*(tank size in
gallons)/(flow rate in gallons) to be your target turnover time. If your
flow rate is chosen with some care, you need not run your sterilizer all
the time. You will save bulb life by running your sterilizer through only
one or two
turn-over intervals per day.

I hope you enjoy the article on turnover time; this is the first time I have
published the web address. Remember that you can skip to the conclusion
and get the formula to use. I am in process of collecting data for a suite
of articles on the topic UV sterilizers. Be watching this news group or my
web site; I am waiting on data from a manufacturer. -Bruce Geist

"Christopher" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
is it wise to run the UV steralizer 24 hours a day? assuming that you only
desire a 99.9% steralization rate you don't have to run the steralizer
that
much (depending upon gph through the steralizer and tank size). I've
read:

9.2 * (tank size / gph through steralizer) = hours a day UV steralizer
must
be on to attain 99.9% steralization rate (assuming uniform mixing). This
said my calculation is at most 7 hours a day, should I just run it for 8
hours a day and save my bulb life and power bill?

Should I run it 24 hours a day to achieve 99.999% steralization or for 8
hours a day?

NETMAX alert. Grab this URL guy!

-Donald

Bruce Geist wrote:


Actually, the 9.2 factor will give you 99.99 % throughput through the
sterilizer. To get 99.9% throughput, the factor is 6.9.
See http://www.wideopenwest.com/~brucege...ver/index.html
for details.

One strategy is to set the flow rate through the sterilizer so that one
pass
kills target organisms you wish to kill. If you set the flow rate slow
enough that everything you want to kill is killed, then run your
sterilizer long enough to "turnover" the tank water once or twice a day,
and then shut the sterilizer off.
snip good stuff

I hope you enjoy the article on turnover time; this is the first time I
have
published the web address. Remember that you can skip to the conclusion
and get the formula to use. I am in process of collecting data for a
suite
of articles on the topic UV sterilizers. Be watching this news group or
my
web site; I am waiting on data from a manufacturer. -Bruce Geist


--
"When you've lost your ability to laugh, you've lost your ability to think
straight." -To Inherit the Wind

Thanks much for the info! Precisely what I needed to read.

In article ,
says...

Actually, the 9.2 factor will give you 99.99 % throughput through the
sterilizer. To get 99.9% throughput, the factor is 6.9.
See http://www.wideopenwest.com/~brucege...ver/index.html
for details.

One strategy is to set the flow rate through the sterilizer so that one pass
kills target organisms you wish to kill. If you set the flow rate slow
enough that everything you want to kill is killed, then run your sterilizer
long enough to "turnover" the tank water once or twice a day,
and then shut the sterilizer off.

Basically, the more slowly you put water through the sterilizer, the more UV
exposure every bit of water passing through the sterilizer receives. If
you have a 36 watt sterilizer with about a 3 inch diameter chamber for the
water, and your flow rate is about 100 gallons per hour, then you are
probably irradiating your water at about a 100 microwatt-seconds dose, which
is
enough to kill most bacteria, algae, and many protozoa. (This is only a
crude estimate; I am working on developing some assessment tools on my
website which will provide more specific advice..) If you are using a lower
wattage sterilizer, or a lower diameter sterilizer, then your flow rate will
need to be lower still to achieve the same dose.

In the article I wrote cited above, I show that when you have run 99.9% of
the water through the sterilizer at least one time, in actuality 99.2% of
water has passed through 2 or more times, and 96.8% will have passed through
the sterilizer 3 or more times! I recommend 6.9*(tank size in
gallons)/(flow rate in gallons) to be your target turnover time. If your
flow rate is chosen with some care, you need not run your sterilizer all
the time. You will save bulb life by running your sterilizer through only
one or two
turn-over intervals per day.

I hope you enjoy the article on turnover time; this is the first time I have
published the web address. Remember that you can skip to the conclusion
and get the formula to use. I am in process of collecting data for a suite
of articles on the topic UV sterilizers. Be watching this news group or my
web site; I am waiting on data from a manufacturer. -Bruce Geist

"Christopher" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
is it wise to run the UV steralizer 24 hours a day? assuming that you only
desire a 99.9% steralization rate you don't have to run the steralizer
that
much (depending upon gph through the steralizer and tank size). I've
read:

9.2 * (tank size / gph through steralizer) = hours a day UV steralizer
must

Thats a very detailed explanation, THANKS!
have a couple questions though:
if the primary reason I'm using the steralizer is to kill algae spores so my
tank stays clean is it smart to only have the steralizer running for X hours
a day? Cant the spores be released and land and settle on the glass and
leaves during the off period? My second question is how much life of the
bulb is saved when you run it for 8 hours a day? I know that the turning on
of the bulb takes away from bulb life, but would the fact that its only run
for 1/3 of the time save bulb life in the long term? I am concerned since
36W PC florescents are $50 (not exactly cheap)

"Bruce Geist" wrote in message
...

Actually, the 9.2 factor will give you 99.99 % throughput through the
sterilizer. To get 99.9% throughput, the factor is 6.9.
See http://www.wideopenwest.com/~brucege...ver/index.html
for details.

One strategy is to set the flow rate through the sterilizer so that one
pass
kills target organisms you wish to kill. If you set the flow rate slow
enough that everything you want to kill is killed, then run your
sterilizer
long enough to "turnover" the tank water once or twice a day,
and then shut the sterilizer off.

Basically, the more slowly you put water through the sterilizer, the more
UV
exposure every bit of water passing through the sterilizer receives.
If
you have a 36 watt sterilizer with about a 3 inch diameter chamber for the
water, and your flow rate is about 100 gallons per hour, then you are
probably irradiating your water at about a 100 microwatt-seconds dose,
which
is
enough to kill most bacteria, algae, and many protozoa. (This is only a
crude estimate; I am working on developing some assessment tools on my
website which will provide more specific advice..) If you are using a
lower
wattage sterilizer, or a lower diameter sterilizer, then your flow rate
will
need to be lower still to achieve the same dose.

In the article I wrote cited above, I show that when you have run 99.9% of
the water through the sterilizer at least one time, in actuality 99.2% of
water has passed through 2 or more times, and 96.8% will have passed
through
the sterilizer 3 or more times! I recommend 6.9*(tank size in
gallons)/(flow rate in gallons) to be your target turnover time. If your
flow rate is chosen with some care, you need not run your sterilizer all
the time. You will save bulb life by running your sterilizer through only
one or two
turn-over intervals per day.

I hope you enjoy the article on turnover time; this is the first time I
have
published the web address. Remember that you can skip to the conclusion
and get the formula to use. I am in process of collecting data for a
suite
of articles on the topic UV sterilizers. Be watching this news group or
my
web site; I am waiting on data from a manufacturer. -Bruce Geist

"Christopher" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
is it wise to run the UV steralizer 24 hours a day? assuming that you
only
desire a 99.9% steralization rate you don't have to run the steralizer
that
much (depending upon gph through the steralizer and tank size). I've
read:

9.2 * (tank size / gph through steralizer) = hours a day UV steralizer
must
be on to attain 99.9% steralization rate (assuming uniform mixing).
This
said my calculation is at most 7 hours a day, should I just run it for 8
hours a day and save my bulb life and power bill?

Should I run it 24 hours a day to achieve 99.999% steralization or for 8
hours a day?

Basically, you are only culling the population of algae spores and bacteria
to a level, presumably, that is more like an open stream or lake. All tank
water is never sterile at any one moment in time, since algae and bacteria
are constantly re-growing.

To control a specific organism or class of organisms, use the lowest lethal
dose for that organism or class of organism, meaning you turn your flow rate
up so that water passing though is exposed to the right level of radiation,
and no more. That way, you are killing algae at the quickest possible
rate. The flow rate is effectively your control on the dosage you are
delivering. So, if algae is your target, I'd turn your flow rate to about
200 gallons per hour. This will deliver (I am estimating here) about 50,000
micro watt-seconds / cm^2 of radiation to the water passing through your
sterilizer.

Here is the shaky part; I am not sure exactly what dose will kill all algae.
So be aware, I am making a swag here. I do know that Chlorella Vulgaris, a
kind of algae, is killed by 45,000 micro watt-seconds / cm^2 of UV.
Therefore, I am recommending a flow rate that I believe will cause your 36
watt sterilizer to deliver the 50 K micro watt-seconds / cm^2 dosage. I do
not actually have intensity data for your particular sterilizer, though I
have requested it from the manufacturer (because I am doing some
mathematical modeling for an article I am writing..) I have intensity data
for a 30 and 64 watt UV set-up, so I am interpolating a result here.
However, the dosage estimate is really an estimate! Sorry I cannot be more
precise.

Now its your choice whether to leave on the sterilizer or cycle it. I do
not believe the statement that cycling a UV lamp shortens its life
significantly. Maybe it does, but I find it hard to believe. In fact, the
lamp manufacturer defines its useful life in terms of hours on, not number
of cycles. If you leave the thing on all the time, the lamp will last about
6 months. If you use it only during the day, my expectation is that it will
last a year. Since your target is algae, maybe its enough to sterilize when
the algae is multiplying during your tank's lighted period.

Do some experiments, and see if you perceive a difference in water quality
and/or algae proliferation when cycling and not cycling. And then let me
know what you conclude! I'd really like to know what your experience turns
out to be...

-Bruce

http://www.wideopenwest.com/~brucegeist

"Christopher" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
Thats a very detailed explanation, THANKS!
have a couple questions though:
if the primary reason I'm using the steralizer is to kill algae spores so
my
tank stays clean is it smart to only have the steralizer running for X
hours
a day? Cant the spores be released and land and settle on the glass and
leaves during the off period? My second question is how much life of the
bulb is saved when you run it for 8 hours a day? I know that the turning
on
of the bulb takes away from bulb life, but would the fact that its only
run
for 1/3 of the time save bulb life in the long term? I am concerned since
36W PC florescents are $50 (not exactly cheap)

"Bruce Geist" wrote in message
...

Actually, the 9.2 factor will give you 99.99 % throughput through the
sterilizer. To get 99.9% throughput, the factor is 6.9.
See http://www.wideopenwest.com/~brucege...ver/index.html
for details.

One strategy is to set the flow rate through the sterilizer so that one
pass
kills target organisms you wish to kill. If you set the flow rate slow
enough that everything you want to kill is killed, then run your
sterilizer
long enough to "turnover" the tank water once or twice a day,
and then shut the sterilizer off.

Basically, the more slowly you put water through the sterilizer, the
more
UV
exposure every bit of water passing through the sterilizer receives.
If
you have a 36 watt sterilizer with about a 3 inch diameter chamber for
the
water, and your flow rate is about 100 gallons per hour, then you are
probably irradiating your water at about a 100 microwatt-seconds dose,
which
is
enough to kill most bacteria, algae, and many protozoa. (This is only a
crude estimate; I am working on developing some assessment tools on my
website which will provide more specific advice..) If you are using a
lower
wattage sterilizer, or a lower diameter sterilizer, then your flow rate
will
need to be lower still to achieve the same dose.

In the article I wrote cited above, I show that when you have run 99.9%
of
the water through the sterilizer at least one time, in actuality 99.2%
of
water has passed through 2 or more times, and 96.8% will have passed
through
the sterilizer 3 or more times! I recommend 6.9*(tank size in
gallons)/(flow rate in gallons) to be your target turnover time. If
your
flow rate is chosen with some care, you need not run your sterilizer all
the time. You will save bulb life by running your sterilizer through
only
one or two
turn-over intervals per day.

I hope you enjoy the article on turnover time; this is the first time I
have
published the web address. Remember that you can skip to the conclusion
and get the formula to use. I am in process of collecting data for a
suite
of articles on the topic UV sterilizers. Be watching this news group or
my
web site; I am waiting on data from a manufacturer. -Bruce Geist

"Christopher" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
is it wise to run the UV steralizer 24 hours a day? assuming that you
only
desire a 99.9% steralization rate you don't have to run the steralizer
that
much (depending upon gph through the steralizer and tank size). I've
read:

9.2 * (tank size / gph through steralizer) = hours a day UV
steralizer
must
be on to attain 99.9% steralization rate (assuming uniform mixing).
This
said my calculation is at most 7 hours a day, should I just run it for
8
hours a day and save my bulb life and power bill?

Should I run it 24 hours a day to achieve 99.999% steralization or for
8
hours a day?

I noticed after I posted that Chlorella Vugaris, a kind of algae,
is actually killed with a dose of 22,000 micro-watt-seconds/cm^2.

If you assume most all algae is killed with a 30,000 unit dose,
you will in fact want to increase the flow rate on your sterilizer further,
to 250 or 300 gallons per hour. -Bruce


"Bruce Geist" wrote in message
...
Basically, you are only culling the population of algae spores and
bacteria
to a level, presumably, that is more like an open stream or lake. All
tank
water is never sterile at any one moment in time, since algae and bacteria
are constantly re-growing.

To control a specific organism or class of organisms, use the lowest
lethal
dose for that organism or class of organism, meaning you turn your flow
rate
up so that water passing though is exposed to the right level of
radiation,
and no more. That way, you are killing algae at the quickest possible
rate. The flow rate is effectively your control on the dosage you are
delivering. So, if algae is your target, I'd turn your flow rate to about
200 gallons per hour. This will deliver (I am estimating here) about
50,000
micro watt-seconds / cm^2 of radiation to the water passing through your
sterilizer.

Here is the shaky part; I am not sure exactly what dose will kill all
algae.
So be aware, I am making a swag here. I do know that Chlorella Vulgaris,
a
kind of algae, is killed by 45,000 micro watt-seconds / cm^2 of UV.
Therefore, I am recommending a flow rate that I believe will cause your
36
watt sterilizer to deliver the 50 K micro watt-seconds / cm^2 dosage. I
do
not actually have intensity data for your particular sterilizer, though I
have requested it from the manufacturer (because I am doing some
mathematical modeling for an article I am writing..) I have intensity
data
for a 30 and 64 watt UV set-up, so I am interpolating a result here.
However, the dosage estimate is really an estimate! Sorry I cannot be
more
precise.

Now its your choice whether to leave on the sterilizer or cycle it. I do
not believe the statement that cycling a UV lamp shortens its life
significantly. Maybe it does, but I find it hard to believe. In fact,
the
lamp manufacturer defines its useful life in terms of hours on, not number
of cycles. If you leave the thing on all the time, the lamp will last
about
6 months. If you use it only during the day, my expectation is that it
will
last a year. Since your target is algae, maybe its enough to sterilize
when
the algae is multiplying during your tank's lighted period.

Do some experiments, and see if you perceive a difference in water quality
and/or algae proliferation when cycling and not cycling. And then let me
know what you conclude! I'd really like to know what your experience
turns
out to be...

-Bruce

http://www.wideopenwest.com/~brucegeist

"Christopher" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
Thats a very detailed explanation, THANKS!
have a couple questions though:
if the primary reason I'm using the steralizer is to kill algae spores
so
my
tank stays clean is it smart to only have the steralizer running for X
hours
a day? Cant the spores be released and land and settle on the glass and
leaves during the off period? My second question is how much life of
the
bulb is saved when you run it for 8 hours a day? I know that the turning
on
of the bulb takes away from bulb life, but would the fact that its only
run
for 1/3 of the time save bulb life in the long term? I am concerned
since
36W PC florescents are $50 (not exactly cheap)

"Bruce Geist" wrote in message
...

Actually, the 9.2 factor will give you 99.99 % throughput through the
sterilizer. To get 99.9% throughput, the factor is 6.9.
See http://www.wideopenwest.com/~brucege...ver/index.html
for details.

One strategy is to set the flow rate through the sterilizer so that
one
pass
kills target organisms you wish to kill. If you set the flow rate
slow
enough that everything you want to kill is killed, then run your
sterilizer
long enough to "turnover" the tank water once or twice a day,
and then shut the sterilizer off.

Basically, the more slowly you put water through the sterilizer, the
more
UV
exposure every bit of water passing through the sterilizer receives.
If
you have a 36 watt sterilizer with about a 3 inch diameter chamber for
the
water, and your flow rate is about 100 gallons per hour, then you are
probably irradiating your water at about a 100 microwatt-seconds dose,
which
is
enough to kill most bacteria, algae, and many protozoa. (This is only
a
crude estimate; I am working on developing some assessment tools on my
website which will provide more specific advice..) If you are using a
lower
wattage sterilizer, or a lower diameter sterilizer, then your flow
rate
will
need to be lower still to achieve the same dose.

In the article I wrote cited above, I show that when you have run
99.9%
of
the water through the sterilizer at least one time, in actuality 99.2%
of
water has passed through 2 or more times, and 96.8% will have passed
through
the sterilizer 3 or more times! I recommend 6.9*(tank size in
gallons)/(flow rate in gallons) to be your target turnover time. If
your
flow rate is chosen with some care, you need not run your sterilizer
all
the time. You will save bulb life by running your sterilizer through
only
one or two
turn-over intervals per day.

I hope you enjoy the article on turnover time; this is the first time
I
have
published the web address. Remember that you can skip to the
conclusion
and get the formula to use. I am in process of collecting data for a
suite
of articles on the topic UV sterilizers. Be watching this news group
or
my
web site; I am waiting on data from a manufacturer. -Bruce Geist

"Christopher" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
is it wise to run the UV steralizer 24 hours a day? assuming that
you
only
desire a 99.9% steralization rate you don't have to run the
steralizer
that
much (depending upon gph through the steralizer and tank size).
I've
read:

9.2 * (tank size / gph through steralizer) = hours a day UV
steralizer
must
be on to attain 99.9% steralization rate (assuming uniform mixing).
This
said my calculation is at most 7 hours a day, should I just run it
for
8
hours a day and save my bulb life and power bill?

Should I run it 24 hours a day to achieve 99.999% steralization or
for
8
hours a day?

I know for most people it isn't a big deal but I don't like algae
in my tank and for me...

It's not just you. Most people hate algae in the tank.

That way I can run the lights more than 8 hours a day
and I don't have to spend an hour scraping the sides of the tank every other
week.

Most people don't have UV sterilizers and don't have to spend an hour scraping
the tank, either. If your tank is in balance, your algae problems should be
minimal.

And you should have your lights on more than eight hours a day. Aquarium
plants generally need a 12 hour day. You should not go below 10 hours. Too
short a photo period can actually help algae, since the plants won't be growing
as well as they should.



Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

well I'm up to 12 hours of full light and 30 minutes of sunrise and 30
minutes of sunset

full light is 120W (80W power-glo 40W actinic 03)
sunrise/sunset is 40W actinic 03
all over a 125g

"LeighMo" wrote in message
...
I know for most people it isn't a big deal but I don't like algae
in my tank and for me...

It's not just you. Most people hate algae in the tank.

That way I can run the lights more than 8 hours a day
and I don't have to spend an hour scraping the sides of the tank every
other
week.

Most people don't have UV sterilizers and don't have to spend an hour
scraping
the tank, either. If your tank is in balance, your algae problems should
be
minimal.

And you should have your lights on more than eight hours a day. Aquarium
plants generally need a 12 hour day. You should not go below 10 hours.
Too
short a photo period can actually help algae, since the plants won't be
growing
as well as they should.



Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/