Green Killing Machine - Upgrade?

[cubequeen]

I have one of the Green Killing Machine UV "sterilizers". I know a lot of people think they are junk and they are probably right, but it did help with smells coming from my tank, mostly from cyanobacteria, which, by coincidence or not, I do not have any more. However, being just 9W it probably doesn't kill very much and may be useful only as a clarifier, as it probably doesn't even do any Level 1 sterilization. Anyway, I'm stuck with it for now and when the two new bulbs I have now expire, I probably won't invest any more money in it. But I was just wondering if anyone else has one and knows if one can be "upgraded" by just replacing the 9 watt bulb with a 24 watt bulb, or maybe the control unit doesn't have enough power to power a 24 watt bulb?

I have the book Aquatic Systems Engineering: Devices and How They Function, which is very technical and difficult to understand, but there are some points I came away with concerning UV sterilizers when I was re-examining portions of it last evening. The optimum diameter for a UV sterilizer is 3", anything less than 25 watts is a poor choice, and quartz sleeves are unnecessary in temperatures above 55° and only serve to lessen the effectiveness of the radiation. Just though I'd throw that out there.

 

[SubRosa]

The bigger bulb won't work with the ballast or fit into the unit. What are you attempting to accomplish with your UV?

 

[cubequeen]

Well, I was satisfied with just the elimination of the smell, but I recently have had problems with bloated fish. This affected the zebra danios almost exclusively, except one red eye tetra did die from a similar affliction. I could never determine the cause for the bloat. I was worried about fish TB, but due to the fact the fish never behaved abnormally. lived for months with the condition and none ever developed any lesions, I don't think it was fish TB. All the affected fish have now passed on. What I would hope UV sterilization would do would be to kill pathogens like fish TB and cyano spores in the water. But from what I have read, to achieve that kind of sterilization would take a huge unit of at least 25 watts and would be quite expensive. As far as I can tell, nobody even makes a unit 3 inches in diameter, which is supposed to be the optimum size for the most efficiency. From the technical information I have read, it seems to me that the vast majority of the UV "sterilizers" out there couldn't possibly really kill very many bacteria or viruses.

Conclusion: I'm probably being overly germophobic and will have to be satisfied with the elimination of the cyano and smell.

 

[oo7genie]

I don't know how accurate this is, but here's a link to a page with a chart that shows the wattage & flow rates required to kill bacteria/algae and parasites.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=21

Not sure what the GPH is on the Green Killing Machine. I've got a few as well, but stopped using them some time ago. Never did anything but clear my water, that I can prove, lol.

**EDIT**

Looks like the Green Killing Machine 9w, is 50 GPH.

 

[SubRosa]

Changing 50% weekly will likely eliminate all of your perceived reasons for needing a UV.

 

[oo7genie]

Changing 50% weekly will likely eliminate all of your perceived reasons for needing a UV.

That's why I can't prove my UV sterilizer ever made a difference. I began doing weekly 50% W/C around the same time I put them in. However, since taking them out a year ago, I still haven't encountered any problems.