I already put my two cents in as to UVC, but just a touch more on
Hozelock.

The pump housings have an adjustable grill/grate that is able to be
reduced down to less than 2mm in size and the pump intake itself is
located a good 3 to 4 inches formn the outer gourd. This is great to
keep fry from getting into the pump itself........If the LFS has one
ther as to see inside the pump unit, as its only held together with
three quick release latches......A standard Pond Master Mag 5 or 7
will also work fine for the Bio_force filters but the guard /enclosure
for the pump need a bit of rework to fit, but its doable.....The pump
assembly also has an adjustable outlet so yuyr not putting the hose
into a hard bend to come up and out of a pond. Its a wellthought out
unit.

The canister is also easy to maintain and pretty darn quick to clean.
A few quick release catches, and the entire top pops off. exposing the
three donuts of foam. On the very bottom is the bio media, which
remains in place. The sponge media is easy and quick to clean. YOu can
always add a later of filter batting to pull extremely small particals
out quicker if needed, but the foam is usually sufficieint. I have
even played around and you can place a layer of charcoa etc in a mesh
bag in place of the middle foam ring if the need arises, so therefore
activated carbon is able to be utilized in the filter......The over
pressure indicator is also a nice feature......When that red ring pops
up its time to change the filter.........

One thing is compute your water quantity at the highest amount, and
get a unit that will accomplish the filtering rate at its lowest
setting. The slower water is pushed through a UVC unit the better the
job it does......I have the wifes units all valved as well as sized
down to about 50% of their rated output. When we can see tiny fry
18" to 20" deep the water IMHO is clean enough. We run the UVC part
once weather starts to warm up and the sun itself starts to get higher
up in the north. Then late summer we can usually turn it off again and
just go with filtraton media without UVC......probbaly do not even use
the UVC 50% of the itme and we canactually get 2 seasons+ ouit of a
bulb. Even with outside covering like a big market / patio umbrella
to provide shade, precise feeding practices and using a lot of plants
algae had alwys been a problem. We even use submerged plants as
typically sold for aquarium use and have thick planted preforms
with aquarium plants full of tropical fish doing just fine......in
conjunction with the Bio Force filters by hozelok. A pond full of
goldies or koi may be neat, but a pond full of Gourami or other
tropical is pretty darn neat also.....

On Fri, 23 Feb 2007 16:00:04 +0000, Gill Passman
wrote:

I was looking at the Hozelock products in my LFS and noticed that
Hozelock have a combined Pump, Filter, UVC combination product - the
price isn't exorbitant (but I guess that is subjective). Now my question
would be on the UVC side......

My understanding of UV usage in the marine aquatic side is that it is
used for prevention of parasites etc. Does the same theory apply to
Ponds as well with this UVC unit? Or is it just a water clarifier?

TIA
Gill



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I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!