UV Sterilzing & Dosing Glut

[Old Scales]

I'd like to open a discussion about this.
According to many, Glut (a form of liquid carbon) is light sensitive. It should be kept in a light proof container to prevent light indused breakdown. I don't know if or how as I'm not a chemist.
OK. So I dose my glut knowing it will only last about 24hr in the tank. So we dose daily. Now, I'm also running my UV sterilizer. Would this exposure to this strong light speed up the breakdown of the glut thus lessening the availability to the plants?
Just in case, I put my UV on a timer and run it 9p to 5a.
Contemplate this and let us know what you think.
Thanks all, OS.

 

[Rivercats]

I'm not a chemist either but I can tell you from expierence that I have run a UV in-line for a year on the 220g and I use Glut. The plants are definitely being able to use the Glut since I saw better growth as I increased my dosage and figure the Glut isn't getting broken down or altered during the light hours. If the UV is breaking it down alittle faster I really haven't noticed any ill effects from it as far as the plants are concerned.

 

[Old Scales]

HI River,
Thanks, it was one of those things you contemplate while staring at your fish & plants. Yeah, my plants seem to be doing well with it too. My AR 'mini' is just starting to put on some growth, Still really small about 1" on the best stems. How's yours doing? OS.

 

[MMantelli]

HI River,
Thanks, it was one of those things you contemplate while staring at your fish & plants. Yeah, my plants seem to be doing well with it too. My AR 'mini' is just starting to put on some growth, Still really small about 1" on the best stems. How's yours doing? OS.

Jealous the ar mini is an awesome looking plant lol. And thanks for the info on the uv sterilizer when I net up my 55 with plants I'm moving my filter from my cichlid tank to it (it has a built in sterilizer and the flow is away to low for my over stocked cichlid tank lol

 

[Rivercats]

My Alternanthera Reinekii Mini is still aclimating IMO. It was so small when it came and had little tiny roots but not enough stem to really be able to plant it properly. It's not dead or dying so that is a good sign but I think it's going to take a couple more weeks at least to start showing new growth. All the other new plants are growing tho so I'm happy.

 

[aqua_chem]

I don't see it being a huge problem. Glut probably has some detectable degradation with UV light, but in-tank it is much more dilute than stock solutions. Most industrial solutions will be 25-50%, Excel is something like 2%, in-tank you have something like .002%, so it's 3-4 orders of magnitude more diluted.


If you read what Seachem says, they say that UV won't matter with Excel, that UV light will had some impact on Excel, and that you shouldn't use UV radiation with Excel... so clearly Seachem has no idea what's going on with their product (which I've come to expect from Seachem).

If you want to be smart about it, run the UV sterilizer at night and dosing Excel in the morning. Automation is really nice here.

 

[Old Scales]

THanks Aqua. Thanks Mantelli. I went ahead and set up my UV for 9p tp 5a operation so as to save the bulb life anyway.
Janis,
I'm suspecting the AR mini is going to be really sensitive to moving so I'm going to let mine really get well established before I move any. My bigger, little sprigs are really turning red though. Smaller leaves are more of a brownish bronze until it gets so big. Not much green to them. OS.
P.S. I'll try and get a close up pic of it soon.

 

[Rivercats]

I got some pic's of the new plants earlier and hope my daughter loads, fixes, and resizes them soon so I can post them on my thread. My Mini AR are so small they are almost flat on the substrate and the tops of the leaves are a brownish bronze too right now.