I am looking into getting a uv sterilizer and wanted to know wich one you guys think is the best one out there I wnat to put one on my 150g now and if I like it then put one on all my tanks
vanilla__gorilla__ said:I am looking into getting a uv sterilizer and wanted to know wich one you guys think is the best one out there I wnat to put one on my 150g now and if I like it then put one on all my tanks
One of the best and a little bit pricy.messiner said:coralife 18 wat, they are the shizzzzzzzzz
Ornatapinnis said:U.V sterilizers flow your aquarium water thru a tube exposing the aquarium water to ultra violet light with the theory that anything floating in the water (I.E. parasites etc..) will be killed. They are very usefull if sized and set up correctly. Many are under sized with to high a water flow rate to be very effective against parasites. Larger units with modest flow rates typically work better against parasites. The are mostly (if not totally) useless against virus controll and are very limited against bacterium. THey are real good at killing suspended algae (green water).
I have many years experiance with many models of sterilizers. I am very un impressed with just about anything that has the name "coralife" on it. Not real impressed the the "twist" type units either.
For non comercial applications the models I have found the best are the omnizap from startronics and even better are the models from Aqua with the wiper option. The reason I really like the Aqua models is you can internally wipe down the quarts sleeve with out taking the unit apart. It is very important to keep the inside clean to get the most exposure of U.V. light to your water as possible. As a film developes on the inside of the sterilizer, it's effectiveness goes way down because the film block out the U.V. light. With the aqua model a quick wipe of the built in "wiper" cleans off the sleeve. Take 5 seconds or less to keep it clean.
Replace the lamp in any sterilizer every 6-12 months to keep it working correctly.
Joel
Star-Flog said:How about Lifegard AquaStep UV.
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