UV Sterilizer/Clarifier help

[Oreo]

I call hogwash to anyone who says UV sterilizers are a band aid solution. Yes, algae is usually due to nitrates being too high, but I prefer low maintenance. I'm simply not going to go dumping & replacing 50gal of water every week. The UV sterilizer means that my tank can tolerate a higher nitrate load & still have clear water. My fish seem fine with well over 100ppm nitrates. I try to keep it much lower, but because of the UV, I can afford to be lackadaisical about it.

UV sterilizer is the single best investment I've made towards MY quality of life while enjoying this hobby.

 

[itzacraze]

u need water passing slowly over the clarifier the canistor filetr method doesnt allow slow flow rates unless you have a huge uv.. wich in your case would be a waste of money..... get a powerhead and a nice sized uv or better yet get a diatom filterdo some more research

 

[itzacraze]

i have a 9 watt with a aquaclear 10 powerhead for my 29 gallon just for example

 

[Toby_H]

u need water passing slowly over the clarifier the canistor filetr method doesnt allow slow flow rates unless you have a huge uv.. wich in your case would be a waste of money.....

The original poster has a 180 gallon tank... which I would suggest an 18 or 20 W UV for... which will work fine powered by a canister "rated" to move 350 gph, since they actually function at about 50% capacity...

Over several years of tinkering with UVs I’ve come up with a simple “rule of thumb” to base UV on…
1W of UV power per 10 Gal of tank volume…
10 gph per 1W of UV power…

I’ve had mixed experiences using powerheads to move water through UVs… I’ve only had good experiences using canister filters…

 

[thefishguy7]

Thanks for all the help guys. Sorry I haven't looked at this thread in a little while. My UV arrived today, and it will be setup tomorrow. I went HUGE, 55 W UV, if it's too big I'll just downgrade and use the 55 W elsewhere. It's over 40" long. I have to buy some pvc and other tubing, but can't wait to set this thing up.

My algae problem is caused from excessive light-not high nitrates. I try to keep it at 20 ppm. I know a sterilizer/clarifier is the solution.

The diatom filter is intriguing, I'll look into it a bit.

 

[itzacraze]

diatom filter with some good algea scrubs and dont forget to stir that gravel up as algea also involves itself withen the gravel bed uv are nice but in your case diatom imo is the hot setup