Uv Sterilizer

[scorphonic]

Hello everyone, as my signature says I have a 180L tank and I want to get a UV sterilizer to keep it disease free. What wattage of a bulb will I need as a minimum. There is a 5W by TetraTec that is apparently ok to use up to a 400L tank while other companies claim that a higher wattage is required for a 180L tank...its very confusing.

Any help would be nice... I'm looking at that tetratec UV400 and JBL models too since they are pretty good value.

 

[dc3]

They sell 9w sterilizers at my local LFS as being able to handle 55g >> While a 5w may do you nicely, if the price isn't too much more, go with a slightly higher wattage...

 

[rdd1952]

I have used a 9W Turbo Twist on my 75 gallon with great results.

 

[scorphonic]

Ah thank you for the replies!! I was doing exams so I didn't get a chance to check the posts that I put up! I think I'm going for a 18W JBL sterilizer, the sooner the better coz this brown algae is annoying me. The first thing I'm doing is scrubbing all the algae into suspension to pass them through the filter and UV unit!

 

[Meds081603]

I would worry more about what the individual sterilizer is rated at handling then the wattage of the bulb. Many brands are more efficient than others which means they can use a smaller bulb. I have the small turbo twist on a 55gallon cichlid tank that works fine and I have one in a 60ish gallon pond and it struggles to keep that clean. In all fairness though, the pond gets tons of sunlight and my plants are not very big yet. Later in the year when the plants have taken off there is much less algae for it to kill.

 

[smmetz]

I have recommended this article a few times, has a nice chart to help figure out which unit fits your needs.

http/www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article....424&aid=440

 

[killudead]

If you have a canister filter that has a max flow of 300 gph, the Turbo Twist 3X would reduce the overall output of the gallons per hour because it has a max flow 200gph.
Thats the way i see it anyway. what do you think?
also great search function on this board!!

 

[mixmaster jay]

you should put the uv on the canister filter inlet (outlet from tank) so the dead algea is collected in the filter rather than going round the tank and then to your filter iether a vecton 200 (which is for your tank) it wont hurt going for a 300. I us a vecton uv25 on my big tank with no problems at all and thats 825L

http/www.ultimateaquatics.co.uk/acatalog..._Vecton_UV.html