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 Cyonic
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Registered: 12/27/20
Posts: 245
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
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 UV Wand 
#27203505 - 02/13/21 11:41 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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I just poured over several threads on the topic of UV sterilization. There was lots of useful info about UV and how it works, but unfortunately no conclusive statement.
So I am posing the question to the forum;
Do the UV wands sold through mycological supply companies actually work for quickly sterilizing surfaces?
I am not so naive to think it would work to sterilize grains or substrates, but was thinking more along the lines of sterilizing the surfaces of work areas, and of the things brought into work areas. Normally I wipe everything down with iso before bringing it close to the face of the flow hood, but would rather not if there was a convenient magical wand that I could simply wave over the object to be sterilized.
Any direct experience with a UV wand
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 bodhisatta  
Smurf real estate agent
Registered: 04/30/13
Posts: 61,891
Loc: Milky way
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Re: UV Wand [Re: Cyonic]
#27203568 - 02/13/21 12:21 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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No direct experience because I wouldn't buy one because they're a gimmick. They work in very controlled circumstances. Your surfaces and contamination loads are dynamic. The UV sanitizing technologies are very careful with their wording when they talk about efficacy for these reasons
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WildFungalGrowth
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Registered: 12/20/20
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Re: UV Wand [Re: Cyonic]
#27204918 - 02/14/21 06:11 AM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
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I do not have experience with UV lights, but they do work to sterilize in certain circumstances. The limiting factor with UV is that bacteria under dust, debris or surface imperfections may not be affected by the UV.
It would be cool if someone made a video or thread like this but with taking samples from surfaces with different exposure times. I'd be interested in the results. If I had to guess then I'd say alcohol is more effective for surfaces.
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Cyonic
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Quote:
WildFungalGrowth said:
I do not have experience with UV lights, but they do work to sterilize in certain circumstances. The limiting factor with UV is that bacteria under dust, debris or surface imperfections may not be affected by the UV.
It would be cool if someone made a video or thread like this but with taking samples from surfaces with different exposure times. I'd be interested in the results. If I had to guess then I'd say alcohol is more effective for surfaces.
That's an excellent point about bacteria under dust particles.
That makes its efficiency as a sterilizer go way down.
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Alan Rockefeller
Mycologist
Registered: 03/10/07
Posts: 48,364
Last seen: 8 hours, 34 minutes
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Re: UV Wand [Re: Cyonic]  1
#27207329 - 02/15/21 12:20 PM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
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It would be better and safer to use standard sterile techniques rather than mess around with UV lights. If you don't have good aseptic technique, no amount of UV will fix contamination issues, and if you do have good aseptic technique you won't need any UV.
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zMan
zMan
Registered: 09/08/12
Posts: 2,191
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Yeah, I'd stick with lysol & iso.
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Cyonic
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Quote:
Alan Rockefeller said:
It would be better and safer to use standard sterile techniques rather than mess around with UV lights. If you don't have good aseptic technique, no amount of UV will fix contamination issues, and if you do have good aseptic technique you won't need any UV.
As Ientioned in the OP the interest was more about replacing iso with something that I only had to purchase once and didn't put off from Mrs, not something to save me from having to be efficient.
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Secretblackafrican
Stranger
Registered: 10/21/20
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Re: UV Wand [Re: Cyonic]
#27211546 - 02/17/21 04:39 PM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
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Id say do both. Perhaps an SAB with un lights inside of it. Actually, I think im going to try that.
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bodhisatta
Smurf real estate agent
Registered: 04/30/13
Posts: 61,891
Loc: Milky way
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I wouldn't add unnecessary risk for little to no rewards. Bad for your skin and eyes. I would be careful with it too but why bother
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Blackrainbow2
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Registered: 12/16/20
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I could see it being used to reuse by serialize the plastic petri dishes...in a box.. I've got one for the fish tank in a separate tank to kill algae and I've thought about using it for killing a petri dish full of mold..just to see it work...
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eLeSDenes
Mycelium Expander
Registered: 05/25/11
Posts: 955
Last seen: 3 days, 6 hours
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Problem with UV lights (apart from damaging your skin and eyes) that they only work if there is enough exposure to the light - any small cracks where contams can hide will reduce the chance of the UV sterilising completely. The truth is that your surfaces don't even need to be sterile, it's more important what's floating in the air, so wiping everything with iso is good enough.
UV lights could still be effective if used well in commercial operations, but it's very unlikely that it will improve anything in your situation.
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Shunyata
Doppelgänger
Registered: 04/03/13
Posts: 160
Loc: costa rica
Last seen: 7 days, 11 hours
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I was thinking they can be used to sterilize petri dishes after they've been poured or to sterilize syringes. I took a bad experiment and further contaminated the rest of it. I'm sterilizing one half of it with the UV light to see what happens.
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PieHole
Registered: 02/03/21
Posts: 8
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Many questions you should ask is what is the nanometer \ wavelength of the uv light? Is it truely uvc? Is it ozone (below 200nm) or without ozone? Is your wand made up of uvc leds? What view angle lens does it have and what is it made up of? Is the tube made up of quarts if not what material? (materials that near maximum uvc light passed through, this includes what you are trying to sterilize.) What are the specs on the leds? So many questions to answer on that alone, what about safety? Your eyes are everything. Being exposed to uvc is very dangerous, especially ordering 35w uvc bulbs without warnings or knowledge.
Whenever I post about UVC sterilization I always warn people, it is an interesting topic and anyone can buy from amazon which is from aliexpress dropshippers\alibaba rebranded. Little to no warning signs either. I feel there should be a pinned warning topic about this. Working under high wattage without ozone without eye and skin protection can send you to the emergency with or without longterm effects. With ozone you're breathing O₃ on top of it.
Anyways stay safe with uvc all
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Shunyata
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Registered: 04/03/13
Posts: 160
Loc: costa rica
Last seen: 7 days, 11 hours
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Yeah this was a cheap one I got at the flea market. Nothing of any use on the label. Either way it had no effect. It all got contam.
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Alan Rockefeller
Mycologist
Registered: 03/10/07
Posts: 48,364
Last seen: 8 hours, 34 minutes
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Quote:
Shunyata said:
Yeah this was a cheap one I got at the flea market. Nothing of any use on the label. Either way it had no effect. It all got contam.
Check to see if the UVC was passing through the petri dish lid by putting a petri dish between the UV want and something fluorescent, and seeing if it blocks the fluorescence.
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Shunyata
Doppelgänger
Registered: 04/03/13
Posts: 160
Loc: costa rica
Last seen: 7 days, 11 hours
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Yeah it still glows but it's not very bright. Perhaps a flow hood made out of a tanning bed would do that trick! Now there's a bad idea...
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laughingdog
Stranger
Registered: 03/14/04
Posts: 4,830
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Re: UV Wand [Re: PieHole]
#27280333 - 04/24/21 11:23 AM (2 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
PieHole said:
.... Your eyes are everything. Being exposed to uvc is very dangerous, ..... I feel there should be a pinned warning topic about this. .....
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RogerRabbit
Bans for Pleasure
Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 42,214
Loc: Seattle
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Re: UV Wand [Re: Cyonic]
#27280372 - 04/24/21 12:01 PM (2 years, 11 months ago) |
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I've used furnace duct UV lamps to increase THC of flowering weed, but only after donning a white suit, a UV specific full face shield, hat, and welding gloves. It's nothing to screw with. As for being much good at sterilization of surfaces, other methods are far better and work faster. Some hospitals use a UV stand to sanitize hospital rooms for 24 hours, but only activated after the nurses have left and locked the room, and placed warning signs.
I wouldn't screw with in in mushroom growing other than perhaps placing in the plenum of your flow hood to control virus loads which are often too small to be HEPA filtered.
RR
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"I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work."
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laughingdog
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Registered: 03/14/04
Posts: 4,830
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Long time no see
Glad you're back
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