germicidal lighting help

chowdan

Hey,

I'm planning on building a germicidal light fixture to help purify my water in my aquarium. I have been online searching for lights and fixtures but after spending the last 3 hours searching i have decided to ask about what i have come up with.

So i have a few options. I found a bulb that is an E17 base and one that is a G23 two pin base.

My question is do i need a ballast for either/or bulbs? If so does it have to be a special germicidal ballast? I would think not? I want to be able to wire the unit to a power cord to plug directly into an outlet.

Thanks in advanced

joecaption

Sounds like your talking about a simple black light.

chowdan

I guess you could say it is a blacklight due to the fact that its running uv lighting. But black lights are uv-a(longwave) rather than uv-c(shortwave). The uv-c is harmful to bacteria(and us) and is known to cause cancerous cells to form and grow. The reason being is that it effects the dna structure of such biological things.

I plan on building a circulating structure that will house the light fixture and also the "containment cell". The containment cell will connect to the fishtank and the fishpump. The pump will draw water into the containment cell which will be split into two sections(both being lit by the UV light). The water will flow into the top of the first section then flow through the bottom into the second section with will house a simple "sponge" that will collect the fine particals. From the second section the water will flow from the top through the pump and into another filter which will house another "sponge", charcoal, and my biofilters.

The reason for this addition to my tank is because i have always had a bad problem with brown algae and i think this will be the best/least harmful to my tank.

A simple blacklight will not do the trick at killing bacteria. If it does i will be VERY impressed and concerned for the public.

Anyways what im thinking of getting the G23 light and fixture.

Here is the socket that im looking at:
G23 Socket.

And the G23 Bulb

Will this socket be able to directly wire into a powercord that can be plugged into a normal outlet?

rrolleston

Looks like you will need a ballast.

__________________
Please ask me about my special discount for people that shut up and stay out of my way! With Electricity there is the right way to do it and the dead way. Just because it works does not make it safe.

Missouri Bound

I know you want to build one...but why not buy one already made? UV / filters are used in many water purification systems for bottle water dispensing.

__________________
Do you want it your way or the right way?
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.