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How To Choose the Right Size of UV Sterilizer?

Updated: Dec 26, 2023


UV sterilizer of various size

As for clearing green water there is nothing better than a properly sized and installed UV light. If you have an outside pond you will at some point be dealing with stained or green water and a UV light is a 100% cure for this. So basically everyone with an outside pond will need a UV light.

A UV light works by zapping the water with ultraviolet light. Given this fact the water has to be inside the unit long enough for the given wattage to do this. This is the “dwell time”  which is the amount of time that the water is actually in the unit getting zapped by the UV bulb. In combination with the speed or flow rate of the water and the dwell time, the wattage of the bulb has to be sufficient to accomplish the proper killing of the algae cells. This is why there are different wattage units of varied diameters and lengths. If the water passes too fast through a given wattage it may not kill the algae cells. The faster the flow rate or GPH the higher the wattage required. So as you can see there are a number of factors to properly sizing the unit. The good news is that most of this calculating is done for you by the manufacturer and the only thing that you need to be concerned with what your flow rate of the water passing through the unit is


Do not size a UV based on pond size alone.   How big your pond may be in volume is irrelevant to properly sizing the UV without taking other things into consideration.


For Pond with One Pump

In this case, you have to size the UV based on the flow rate of the pump. If you have a 3000 GPH pump you need a UV rated for 3000 GPH to kill algae. Then all of the water being pumped must go through the unit to do the job properly. So as you can imagine this will usually mean you are forced to buy large wattage, and expensive unit.

In this case, You can consider setting up multiple pumps in your pond.


For Pond with Multiple Pumps

You can set up multiple pumps in your ponds. This doesn’t mean you need a UV for each pump! You just need to connect the right size pump to your UV Light based on the flow rate of the UV sterilizer. This method is the most efficient method of sizing and installing a UV. With this method you can size the UV based on the volume of the pond.


Contact Pondcare, we will guide you through the installation process. 

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