How is everyone running their UV Sterilizers?

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Chizzle

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Jan 30, 2011
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So over winter break I am planning on redoing the plumbing on my 360G, 270G, and 120G tanks. While I have all the plumbing figured out, I was also thinking of fixing how I run the UV Sterilizers on the tanks. I have Coralife 36W UV Sterilizers running in line with an FX5, but would like to achieve a lower flow rate. I was thinking of getting a dedicated small submersible pump for each to try and achieve the 290 GPH for parasites. Would just have to figure out how to rig it. Like should it be drawing directly from the tank and returning to the tank or should I rig it to my sump. Any suggestions are appreciated, thanks!

Taken from Coralife
At 290GPH kill parasites.
At 680GPH kill algae
At 1550GPH kill bacteria.
 
i prefer to run the in line uv's on a closed loop system.
if the tank is acrylic you can easily drill 2 holes and add
plumb the uv to it with a lower rated external pump or if
you want to use a submersible pump you can use pvc
to plumb it and have the plumbing go outside/behind the
tank so it doesn't take up too much room inside the tank
besides the pump and the pvc pipe running vertically.
you can also add a top filter along with this and add more
bio in it or plant live plants for additional filtration.
 
asdqwd211.jpg

you can also make a pvc can stuffed with mech/floss
as a prefilter connected with a quick disconnect to keep
the uv cleaner and have the added extra polish and what
not.
 
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tomojsg said:
i prefer to run the in line uv's on a closed loop system.
if the tank is acrylic you can easily drill 2 holes and add
plumb the uv to it with a lower rated external pump or if
you want to use a submersible pump you can use pvc
to plumb it and have the plumbing go outside/behind the
tank so it doesn't take up too much room inside the tank
besides the pump and the pvc pipe running vertically.
you can also add a top filter along with this and add more
bio in it or plant live plants for additional filtration.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately my 360 is tempered glass, so i wont be able to add any more holes. The other two tanks are standard glass, but I am not handy and lack the confidence and skills to drill it. I've seen the youtube videos, but have also seen a few "patch jobs" from blotched attempts.
 
Chizzle said:
Unfortunately my 360 is tempered glass, so i wont be able to add any more holes. The other two tanks are standard glass, but I am not handy and lack the confidence and skills to drill it. I've seen the youtube videos, but have also seen a few "patch jobs" from blotched attempts.
Click to expand...

just keep it simple then and run a submersible pump then.
crppy picture above of external and internal lol.
 
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Chizzle said:
On #2 is the UV submerged in the plastic container?
Click to expand...

its not supposed to be but i got lazy with the drawing lol

should be T'd off so it flows through the planter and the uv on the
outside. but you dont need planter or any of that it can just be the
uv but its nice to have it. you can dump your heaters in the planter
and what not and hide it instead of having it inside the tank.
 
tomojsg said:
its not supposed to be but i got lazy with the drawing lol

should be T'd off so it flows through the planter and the uv on the
outside. but you dont need planter or any of that it can just be the
uv but its nice to have it. you can dump your heaters in the planter
and what not and hide it instead of having it inside the tank.
Click to expand...

I have all my heaters in sumps right now. Is there an easy way to run the UV with my sump? Maybe using a submersible pump to draw water to the UV which would be elevated above the sump and let gravity push the water back into the sump which would get pumped back into the tank?
 
Chizzle said:
I have all my heaters in sumps right now. Is there an easy way to run the UV with my sump? Maybe using a submersible pump to draw water to the UV which would be elevated above the sump and let gravity push the water back into the sump which would get pumped back into the tank?
Click to expand...

you can just T off the return on the sump and put a valve on it before the uv
to control flow to your liking. this way you can restrict the flow going through
the uv and achieve level 2 sterilization.

only thing you need is a T, ball valve and some extra pvc pipes shouldnt be
more than a few bucks.
 
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tomojsg said:
you can just T off the return on the sump and put a valve on it before the uv
to control flow to your liking. this way you can restrict the flow going through
the uv and achieve level 2 sterilization.

only thing you need is a T, ball valve and some extra pvc pipes shouldnt be
more than a few bucks.
Click to expand...

Nice, using this method would I have to position the UV above the sump, or would I be able to just put it on the floor and have the return plumbing go back to the sump? I like the ball valve idea, but is there a good way to tell how much flow I am getting through the UV? I'd like to get under 290 gph if possible
 
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