UV sterilizer for 75 gal freshwater
- Thread starter Crunch
- Start date
It's kind of a tough call to determine which UV unit is the best. It would be the rare person who has owned more then 1 model.
There is a review of the Coralife turbo-twist 6x at the link below. I hope it helps in your decision.
http://www.cloudytanks.com/reviews/aquariums/uv.html
best of luck,
asaint
There is a review of the Coralife turbo-twist 6x at the link below. I hope it helps in your decision.
http://www.cloudytanks.com/reviews/aquariums/uv.html
best of luck,
asaint
For my 55 gal, I went with an 8 watt Rainbow Lifegard ( http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=22505;category_id=3247;pcid1=;pcid2= ), for two main reasons. First, it uses two simple rubber o-ring seals and a 'straight' UV bulb and quartz tube so it's really easy to take apart and clean. Second, it has a very large body so that the water passing by is exposed for a longer period of time ... which increases the 'zap' factor of a lower wattage UV bulb. 8 watts of UV is probably a bit anemic for a 75 gal though unless you add a bypass valve and hose (so you can slow down the flow through the UV if an algae bloom or bacteria infection appears).
The turbo-twist tries to do the same thing with a smaller body via the twisty water path, but IMHO this has got to lead to cleaning issues eventually (plus the turbo twist replacement seal kit looks a bit spooky - http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=30277&category_id=3927&pcid1=3247 ). In theory the twisty water path has also got to create more back pressure in your filter 'loop', which could potentially be a problem if the built-in pump in an upstream canister filter now also pushing water through the UV didn't have that much 'oomph' to start with.
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The turbo-twist tries to do the same thing with a smaller body via the twisty water path, but IMHO this has got to lead to cleaning issues eventually (plus the turbo twist replacement seal kit looks a bit spooky - http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=30277&category_id=3927&pcid1=3247 ). In theory the twisty water path has also got to create more back pressure in your filter 'loop', which could potentially be a problem if the built-in pump in an upstream canister filter now also pushing water through the UV didn't have that much 'oomph' to start with.
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Unless something unusual happens, I only run my own UV for 24 hours after water changes, and then shut it down for the next 2-3 days until the next water change. The idea I'm working on is to kill any 'unwelcome guests' that happen to come in with the new water, but to avoid killing as many beneficial bacteria as possible.
yah i bought a coralife the smaller one the 9watt bulb and i got a bad one the ballast wasent working..now i gotta wait a week for a new one to be shipped to me......and plus it was missing the hose fittings and the hang on back clip.......i got a rio pump to push the water...it flowed pretty good but i couldnt tell if the uv was on or not....but i had a feeling that it wasent cause i didnt feel any heat on it....and the smaller one dosent have the plastic on the end...so i untwisted it...and bam no light......took it up to the shop and they pluged it in it came on but only at half power and was flickering almost blowin out the bulb.....so thats strike on agints the coralife....hopefully it was just a bad one..and the next one will have all the parts and a working ballast.......and this outher shop told me that he quit selling them becuse he had nothing but trouble with customers complaing about them.....leaking and such...broken units....but he said the company had a great customer service.......but hopefully this week will go buy so i can finally see my tank and i wont have anymore issues with the light!!