I'm gonna order my first UV sterilizer on ebay due to excessive green water and need to know how many watts(if that's how these are rated) are necessary to work on my 54gal corner tank. Thanks...
UV sterilizer size?
- Thread starter jmatthewvan
- Start date
I bought the 13watt version of this sterilizer for a 225g and it does the trick...
this one even comes with a couple of replacements...
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-9W-UV-Steri...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item255625cb2c
this one even comes with a couple of replacements...
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-9W-UV-Steri...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item255625cb2c
If you are just trying to cure green water you can do so in a 54 gal tank with one of the 5W units with a built in powerhead...
If you wish to gain the additional benefits of a UV light then you will want to go with a larger unit and the flow rate will be much more critical...
If you wish to gain the additional benefits of a UV light then you will want to go with a larger unit and the flow rate will be much more critical...
So a 150 gallon tank, 40 gallon sump @ 1200 gph over flow/return; 20-25 watt UV Sterilizer?
Connected after the return pump from the sump and before the return to the tank? Or better in the sump itself?
Connected after the return pump from the sump and before the return to the tank? Or better in the sump itself?
I've done it both ways and either way seemed to work so which ever method is most convenient... When I put them in the sump, I have a powerhead pump water through the UV.
I have a 57W on my 125 gal with no sump. In the long run, assuming no ballast failures, the cost of the bulbs is going to be the predominant expense. The 57W and 25W bulbs for the brand I was looking for were almost the same price but the 57W bulb can be used a lot longer before its output declines to that of a new 25W bulb.
I have a 57W on my 125 gal with no sump. In the long run, assuming no ballast failures, the cost of the bulbs is going to be the predominant expense. The 57W and 25W bulbs for the brand I was looking for were almost the same price but the 57W bulb can be used a lot longer before its output declines to that of a new 25W bulb.
There are two main things to consider when considering a UV light...daveydoodle;3987319; said:
A) Flow rate per Watt passing in front of the bulb...
B) times per hour the full tanks volume passes in front of the bulb...
A 20~25W light with 200~250 gallons per hour passing through it set up on a 150 gal tank + 4 gal sump will work great for curing green water, kill parasites and all other potential benefits a UV has to offer...
Pushing 1200 gph through a 20~25W light will not kill parasites and will probably not kill anything other than free floating algae / green water.
In my opinion using a 20~25W UV @ 1200 gph on a 190 gal system is not a good application of UV. This will only be effective against green water and you could use a much smaller UV at a lower flow rate to cure green water... or you could push much less water through the 20~25W UV to get much result than only killing green water.
A 20~25W UV at 1200 gph would be efficient to kill greenwater on a 1,000 ~1,500 gallon pond that gets direct sunlight... so it's a waste of money using that strong of a light to rid a 190 gal aquarium of green water...
A 20~25W UV is efficient to rid a 190 gal system of parasites if run at 200~250 gph. Thus running it at 1200 gph is drastically lowering it's potential.
^ok. so that throws my plans out the window. I was planning to use a 36 watt turbo twist on my 225 gallon and hook it up to my return line (mag18 as the pump which is around 1200 with head)
I'll probably get a smaller one now, but what is the best way to install a turbo twist uv?
I'll probably get a smaller one now, but what is the best way to install a turbo twist uv?
So my question is still the same...best way to hook it up. I guess not directly through the return pump because of too high a gph return. How about buying a smaller pump and running a seperate line out of the sump tank, through the UV Sterilizer, and then back into the sump tank to then be pumped out to the main tank through the larger return pump? Basically just create a little side loop within the 40 gallon sump tank?
