Upgrading the 40w UV to 80w.

[enderg60]

So a LOOOOOONG time ago I was gifted a emperor 40w UV after it got wet and the ballast fried and the bulb exploded and cracked the sleeve. So I decided to DIY it back together and put it on my QT tank. I found a 40w t5 ballast for $25, new off brand bulb for $35 and new sleeve for $40. $100 for a 40w UV not bad at all. Just looked a bit DIY.

That lasted about 2 years before the bulb blew and the ballast stopped working. With my upcoming move I will be needing a UV for the temporary setup and decided to get this thing working again but with actual emperor parts. After years of working with halides I found the match of the right bulb and ballast were crucial to performance and lifespan. So no more off brand parts, that just worked.

Hop on amazon and its easy to find the parts. 40w Power supply $100, emperor bulb $62, sleeve $40. So $200 and I have a brand new Emperor UV. Sweet!

Then I noticed something. Hey the 80w High output bulb is the same size as the 40w. Hell same sleeve size too. Oh no, plotting begins. A new search turns up....a 80w power supply $130, emperor 80w bulb $83, sleeve $40....So $250 for the 80w parts. A $50 upgrade to go from a 40w UV to a 80w UV. (FYI the off brand bulbs are $34 for the 40w and $42 for the 80w if youre wondering)

ORDER.

So the bulbs are in fact not the same size....hmm

But the 80w bulb fits in the sleeve just fine...ok (note the cracked sleeve)

Ok on to the power supply, this is a bit more hefty than the other one.

Plugs are the same ,but the adapters are different sizes. The 80w is 1" the 40w is 3/4". No problem Ill just swap them. And the plug doesnt fit through the hole. Figures, and I was hoping to get through this without any wiring.

Wires clipped, adapter found and it fits!

Reattaching wires.

Everything fits and we have an 80w UV!

Now its worth noting that while I was waiting for the stuff to arrive I did some research. Reading the Emperor manual to get the flow rates, they list flow rates for up to 180,000 units but to kill ich you need to 330,000, so take their min flow rate and cut it in half. Turns out the rated flow rate for killing ich with the 40w is only 50 GPM, thats crap and why I recommend a 40w as a minimum size for any aquarium. The flow rate to kill ich with the 80w is 200 GPM. Now thats cooking! So right there we have a 4x increase in usable flow for $50.

I didnt do any comparisons for other UV sizes to see if a HO version is available but this certainly opens some doors for retrofits.

So someone as nerdy as I am will probably point out that the reaction chamber on the 40w is 2" but the 80w its 3.5". FYI the newer 40w ones are 3". Looks like I will have to do some adjustments to the flow rates based on the chamber volumes. Which I will certainly do as soon as Im sober enough to do math lol.

 

[Adam]

Great job on the rebuild/upgrade!

Did the new sleeve come with a new slip on crimp gasket? Those a crucial to be installed correctly!

I bought my 57w AquaUV from Marlon when he got out and he'd put a new ballast in it. After I'd used it for a while I cleaned it and when I put it back together I must not have had that seal put on correctly. Over time water had gotten into the connector and then wicked through the power cord all the way to the ballast. When it popped and blew the breaker I about pissed myself. It was quite loud.
I took the ballast PVC housing apart and a bunch of water poured out. Couldn't believe that much water had flowed not only through the power cord to the ballast but there was also water also that made it from the cord from the ballast to the power plug. Glad it didn't fry the EB8 on my Apex out too!

Lesson learned! Double check that seal every time its reassembled.

 

[enderg60]

My original UV was a AquaUV 57w. EVERYONE hated them, but mine never gave me any issues in over 12 years of operation. I loved the compact size and good power output. I even got a second one for my system before upgrading to the 150w.

 

[Adam]

I will say that I think the quality of the quartz cap is lacking on the Aqua UV. Maybe not so much quality but a design flaw. It's very easy to snap it in half where the threaded male section meets the female portion of the fitting. The material gets very thin there and has limited contact points. I'm on my 3rd one now.
It doesn't cause the leaking issue though as the female part does maintain the needed pressure on the slip gasket on the quartz sleeve when its broke on me. The leak was entirely my error in reassembly. Beyond that I haven't had any other issues with it now that I understand how to get the seal need and I do like the compact size too.

How many gallons was the system you used 150w on?

 

[FutureInterest]

Very cool Danny. Thanks for sharing

 

[enderg60]

yeah I agree the gasket is a very overlooked item and you know what, Im gonna order a new one just in case.

The 150 is on my current 540g system. The 80w UV will be used on the temporary setup while I get the new tank running. The new system Im building will be around 900 gallons so if this unit works good Ill add it to the new systems too or see if I can find another broken 150 to fix up. I was comparing the 150w to two 80w units and they very close in terms of power/flow rate and bulb costs. But the 150 ultimately wins.