question on UV sterilizer

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Bud Fox

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Jan 10, 2003
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i bought a turbo twist sterilizer for a 90 gallon FW tank. I was told i needed a 201 ph to run it because my 802 is too powerful. My question is if i dont mount it on the back and mount it underneath the tank is the 802 ok and I also have a Eheim 2028 and is it ok to stick it inline with the filter if the powerhead option doesnt work? i intend on running it constant for a few months then maybe 6hrs a day


thanks in advance:)
 
In order for a UV sterilizer to be successful, anything that must be killed must stay in front of it for a reasonable amount of time...and I think that the 802 may be a little too powerful to allow for that.
 
Skip the powerhead, too much of a pain. It will flow dirty water through the UV, meaning youll need to open the UV up at least once a month and clean it.

Personally, I would split the return from the eheim, so you have half the outlet feeding the UV and the other half going right into the tank.
 
Agree with slip, but have to ask--why are you running a UV? UV's don't clean your water, and they don't take care of any problems that regular water changes and a q-tank won't fix more readily (and without some of the other unintended consequences of a UV).
 
When i first started my tank everything was great (1 1/2yr ago). I think i got a bad bunch of feeders 3 months in and it killed almost my whole tank. I then medicated and recycled with my remaining fish. But every few months it seems this fungus or disese comes back and kills my fish. My fish look like there skin is coming off is patches and it happens almost overnite and it happens to several quickly. All my parameters are ok when this happens as i do water changes, clean and vaccuum regularly. I do water changes(20-25%) about every 10 days. I am very frustrated by this as i have spent alot of money on differnet meds, setup a hospital tank and I still lose fish. My recent ones were 2 5" dempseys 1 5" bleekeri 1 4" neematopus not to mention all the other fish I have lost thru this period. I am at the point that I want to dismantle my 90 gallon tank and sell it. This is going to be my last resort with the uv sterilizer. The funny thing is that i see people who dont even do water changes and there fish live but I try to stay on top of it and my tank seems to be a disaster area. I was even told that it could be that my wife sprays her hair in the same room and the aerosol but my tank is covered so i dont know but she has stopped doing it anyway. So the reason for the sterilizer is that for all the money I have lost in meds and fish i guess $75 is the last resort in getting my tank to work.

Sorry for the vent but I am out of ideas on whats wrong with my tank and i guess well............... im just pissed thats all

I also have a 5"buttokoferi left who has how amazingly survived for several months so i want to see if I can get the tank right and start from scratch again
 
That's weird. I would be willing to bet that the UV won't solve it. Sounds like either chemical burn (I don't believe the hairspray theory either, but it's reminiscent of Nox-Ich overdose) or the buttikoferi is beating everyone up when you're not looking. Nasty brutes.
Does the bad stuff happen after a water change? Maybe there's something nasty in the supply.
You have probably heard all these suggestions before, but I really am concerned that the UV won't fix the problem.
 
Feeders? Rosy reds? Are you still putting feeder fish into the system? Skin parasites.

Ultaviolet kills unselectively, like the bromine in the swimming pool. But it doesn't eliminate anything. Have you read Erik Johnson's prescription for using potassium permanganate? At www.koivet.com . I got my KMnO4 from www.pondrx.com .

Feeder fish are fed to piscivores that won't eat anything but a live fish.

Every fish coming into your system needs to be quarantined for a month first.
 
Not to be sarcastic but i learned my lesson one time with feeders and that was it for them. I will look into the potassium cure and the butti was actually not a bully in my tank the jacks and bleekeri were until they died. I appreciate the advice and suggestions. My water is ok and when i do water changes i use stress coat and add salt each time.i feed frozen cubes and cichlid gold pellets and as a treat every few months i give them ghost shrimp.
 
ive read a little on the potassium and had a question.....

can it be used on cichlids and a pleco or just koi??

when you put it in you leave it in until it turns brown then add how much peroxide to de- actify it??


it says bypass the filter can i just run my powerhead??


and lastly wanted to know how you made out with it (results)??

thanks
 
ChilDawg said:
In order for a UV sterilizer to be successful, anything that must be killed must stay in front of it for a reasonable amount of time...and I think that the 802 may be a little too powerful to allow for that.
Click to expand...

I have run a lot of UV lamps, from 9w to 55w. I tend to disagree with the accepted notion that water HAS to remain in the lamp for a specified period of time. However, if you are running a 1000 gal ponds' water through a 9w lamp, yes, the water would have to remain in the lamp long enough to effect the "kill" on the organism you are after; at least, that is my thinking. So, there are instances where that notion is correct--that the water must be of a slow flow rate.

Now, all that said, I run an 18w lamp on a 29g aquarium, high flow rate. Most likely, the algae/etc. only get a mild sunburn their first time through, perhaps a severe sunburn the second time through, and perhaps death the third or fourth time through--all I know is that it works awesomely!

Anyway, that is what apparently is happening in my tanks. And, the 36w I run on a 35g aquarium, again at a high flow rate, is nothing short of awesome in clearing green water and keeping the water so clear you think the fish are swimming in air! (Virtually a matter of hours to kill a severe case of green water algae--like overnight.)

Regards,
JS
 
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