UV Germicidal Lighting

[tangles]

 ???Germicidal Light for Algea control.

I decided to look at these units and my first impression was !?*&^%$£ wow these are not expensive at all.

Now being a typical guy always trying to save a dollar or two I decided to look at making my own. (I was in the electrical trade so I do have a little knowledge.
Ok so here is what I have found out so far from the internet,
There are 3 types of UV lamp, 1, The Clarifyer which recomends about 50% shade over the pond. 2, The sterilizer and, 3) the germicidal sterilizer.
Now aparantly the germicidal sterilzer tube is superior due to the emitting wave length.
There are many varieties of unit on the market so to base my experiment I have gone for a 36W unit. Priced from A$350-A$600.
now the basic parts for these units are, The tube, The Choke and the base cap. All purchased seperately for around A$80.
Now here is where I start delving deeper regarding the housing. My first thoughts were 100mm SS tube. Then I worked out that gravity fed water can flow at a maximum of 10KL/Hr through a 100mm tube, now thats pretty fast. Ok so lets find out how long it is required for Algea to be within the light spectram in order to kill it. One site I found said it had to be 1.2 seconds for green algea. So based on that I worked it out and I hope im wrong that I would need 3.39Mtrs of lamp in a 100mm housing. (maybe the decimal place is in the wrong spot) Now am I wrong or is there something Im missing. Anyway before I proceed I shall look further into it, and in the meentime if anyone has some information I would gladly appreciate it. Rember that the uv light is based on length/Watt the same as a fluoro ie. 20W 2Ft, 40W 4Ft.

[saph.st24]

well good luck with it
i wont give advice you have probably read about my experiences with electrical items lately

[tangles]

Saph, I thought you new everything hahahah. I will keep you informed if I find anything out. By the way its spawning time here let the fun begin.

[saph.st24]

of course i know everything i'm a woman 
no really i am a complete techno phob, i cant even get the hd recorder to record lol
the strange thing is i used to make the power leads for computers and life support machines  scary thought   but i can now wire a plug

so if you end up on life support check the plug if it says volex it could be one of mine 

oh spawning seem so far away now its so cold   they have forcaste frosts for the next few nights and by end of next week snow for some places in the north west yipee i like snow snowball fights with our carl is fun 

are you planning on rearing any baby koi?

[tangles]

Saph thanks for the info, Ive been in ICU a few times but must admit never realy looked at the plugs hahah. As far as the snow goes, not realy my cup of tea. I remeber it well I lived NW London until I was 20 then came to Oz and here I shall stay.
Yes I am breeding for the first time this year and am just using pond Koi to test the waters. Ive done 2 spawnings the first with- Fem Gin Matsuba/Male Shusui. The second with Fem Ginrib Kutaku/male Doitsu Matsuba now they are all doing well so far. next year if I have no problems I want to get into the Ogons and Mastsubas I just love that pine look. However in Oz its very difficult because we are not allowed to import and most breeders stick with the top 4.

Anyway keep yer woolie knickers on and enjoy yer snow.

[saph.st24]

yes i know about the aussie border controls bloomin strict lol
not that i can blame them and i do say we should be the same but no to flamin soft this country.

as for the thermal knickers they havent been away since august lol its is -3.9 here  so to cold for snow