UV Sterilizer

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
or should i just get a PUMP that u use for WET/dry filters... HELP!

majority of the petshops here are WEAK...most carry only 9watt uv sterilizer..one place got a 18watt coralife turbotwist..

i want to find the 36w turbotwist for my 300g.... the stronger the merrier right?
 
you connect a small pump ( in the tank ) to the UV with a hose. If you put the UV above the tank the water will go through the UV and get back in the tank through gravity.
 
i put a pump inside the tank? THey make such pumps? Are u talking about powerhead or the pumps that sit outside the tank. thanks
 
We have a 40 Watt UV sterilizer for our 300 gallon tank. It is connected to the return line of our backup FX5 filter. We had a major green water problem (the tank is is daylight all day long) which the UV sterilizer quickly cleared up. Our pacu are always banging and scraping themselves on the tank lids. We don't worry about infection--they heal up very quickly.

The bulbs need to be changed every 6 months in most UV sterilizers--it depends on the brand. To be effective, the flow rate through the UV sterilizer is somewhat slow. There is no way that a smaller UV sterilizer would be effective connected to our FX5. I don't know how effective an 18 Watt UV sterilizer would be on your 300 gallon tank. Here's what ours did:

We went from this
tank-07.jpg



to this with the UV sterilizer
tank2.jpg
 
A friend has a 25 watt Gamma UV on his 240 it's doing its job well. Don't buy a Jebo they are cheep junk...just like all of there products. Go to http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com They sell good UV's for a fair price. On my 400 I'm using a 36 watt. In my opinion they are great for large tanks since its almost imposable ($$$) to treat 400 gallons of water for most diseases.
 
with UVs its all about flow rate get it wrong and they are not worth using

i don't know the GPH flow rate but i do know the LPH so you can work it out yourself

8w = 700 lph
15w = 1000 lph
25w = 1700 lph

but slower is better you will need a 25w for a 300gal tank

its much essayer to run a UV from a canister filter rather than a power head then the water is filtered properly before it gets to the UV
if the UV is not getting clean water the glass sleeve inside will get dirty not letting the light throw
 
selki;2193481; said:
so 2 emperor 400 and 1 AC110 with a UV sterilizer/powerhead is good on a 300g?
Click to expand...

add a fluval 405 and make that uv a high watt also 2 30 percent water changes a week depending on load
 
wah.. i was debating between eheim 3 and fluval fx5..i like the fx5 cuz it seems easier to prime and clean than all the other cannisters..had a mag 350 long time ago and it suckd cleaning so never bought a canister since then...but now i have a 18watt coralife turbotwist for my 300 and yall recommend a 25 wat...but gues wat too late lol. so bottom line is i need slower flowrate and fx5 should b slow enough for my sterilizer to work at its maximum..i forget the gph on the fx5 was it 900?

any weaker fluvals that hvae the same valve to prime/clean easier? or any other brands with this funciton as well?
 
No idea on the flow-rate for the FX5, but it could be too fast for the UV sterilizer. I'd suggest you buy a big enough UV sterilizer (people here have said 36w, the guy at the LFS said to me that if you're using a pond one [designed for killing algae] then drop a 0 off the volume if you want it to kill bacteria in the tank, so you'd want one rated for a 3000g pond for your 300g tank) then find a canister filter with the correct flow rate for that UV, and pack it full of mechanical filtration so the water getting to your UV is clean and the glass sleeve doesn't get dirty.

All these UV threads are reminding me its time I changed the bulb on mine!
 
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