Uv Steraliser, And Flow Rate.

hellohefalump

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so... I want to increase my flow.

I also have been thinking about getting a UV steraliser. I've been looking on ebay, and there are a few internal UV steralisers, that feature a powerhead. So I'm thinking, why not kill two birds with one stone?

Having never had one before, what wattage do I need? My tank is 100gals/400 litres.

Is that even important? Is the amount of water it turns over, more important than the wattage of the bulb?

There's one I'm interested in that only has a 9watt bulb and says it's suitable for tanks up to 200litres. It's flow is 800litres/hour.

I've worked out I need approx 1400litres/hour more flow in my tank, so if I got two and put one at each end of my tank, would that do the job?

What do you guys think? Is this a good idea, or would it be a better idea to get an external UV steraliser and get powerheads separately?
 
Interested to hear a responce on this one as I'm in the same situation.
 
why not just get a powerhead? UV help kill free floating algae & parasites. It is highly unlikey you will ever get any of these providing you respect your tank with care.

what filters do you have at the moment?
 
That's true. I've got a tetratec 1500 and the standard juwel internal filter on the rio 400. So not enough flow, I need about 1500lph more.

The reason I was thinking of the UV was that there are a lot of people on APC recommending them.

Powerheads are a lot cheaper though.
 
They're saying they help with algae, and parasites like white spot (although I know my tank doesn't have this problem), and you get really clear water.
 
when i had one i didnt notice a difference in water quality, if you take a look at all the greatest aquascapers, tell me out of all of them run one! Maybe they do when starting a tank to help with any algae issues that may arise, but not in the long term ,save your money & get a powerhead IMO.
 
I'll do that. Cheaper anyway. But if I ever get green water I'm getting a UV! Touch wood... I've never had green water before.
 
I'll do that. Cheaper anyway. But if I ever get green water I'm getting a UV! Touch wood... I've never had green water before.

Or work out how much it costs to buy the UV or to sort out a possible dosing problem or a simple increase in CO2 injection :fun:
 
quick question regarding buying powerhead/s...

At the moment, I think my circulation (water getting to all spots of the tank) is pretty good because I can see dust etc moving about in the water column everywhere. So when I get my powerheads would it be best to get two powerheads, each 600lph, and put them where my current filter outlets are? So the water will be movement in the same directions it is now, just faster?

oooh! just found some 700l/h powerheads on ebay... do they look alright?
ebay
 
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UV Sterilizers only help with free floating algae/diatoms. If it doesn't pass through the unit, it isn't killed. They work great for clearing green water but won't help with other forms of algae.
 

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