UV Sterilizer question

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jlink17

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Okay, all these posts on UV Sterilizers has me wondering if I have the right size for my tank. I have a 55 gallon and it has a 9w UV sterilizer in it. Will this even make a difference in this tank as I keep hearing people say 1/2 watt per gallon and such. Wanting to use it for disease/parasite control/preventative as well as the usual reasons. Thanks in advance.

P.S. This is a link to one exactly like mine for reference http://cgi.ebay.com/AQUARIUM-SUBMER...in_0?hash=item2c51100854&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
 
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jlink17 said:
Okay, all these posts on UV Sterilizers has me wondering if I have the right size for my tank. I have a 55 gallon and it has a 9w UV sterilizer in it. Will this even make a difference in this tank as I keep hearing people say 1/2 watt per gallon and such. Wanting to use it for disease/parasite control/preventative as well as the usual reasons. Thanks in advance.

P.S. This is a link to one exactly like mine for reference http://cgi.ebay.com/AQUARIUM-SUBMER...in_0?hash=item2c51100854&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
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I have not ran that low a wattage in years. I prefer at least 1/2 watt per gallon. With the 9w on a 55 gallon that is 0.163w per gallon. However, check this page out:

http://www.fishlore.com/uv_sterilizer.htm

Personally, I would cut his recommended flow rate in half. Or, about 30gph flow. This is not too bad. Tank volume, measured in gallons, will go through the filter every ~2 hours. In about 3 or 4 days, any green water problem should be gone, or well on its' way to being gone.

Although I have never ran that recommended rate/wattage/gallon-size ... I am thinking it will kill ICK. However, because of the length of time it will take, I would ALSO use a med for the ICK right up front (now you see why I like 1/2 watt and higher), then let the UV take it from there. Running the UV 24/7 should guarantee you will never see ICK in that tank again. And, if you are as fortunate as myself, you will almost never have to treat for most other diseases/parasites--as long as you do good aquarium maintenance and don't introduce freshly purchased occupants/plants/etc. directly into the tank, without a quarantine period.

Hope that helped. Consider it a starting point only ...

Regards,
TA
 
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Thanks! That did help. I do plan on running it 24/7. Just wanted to know if it would be sufficient. I picked it up really cheap and couldn't pass it up. Worse case scenario I will buy a bigger one for my 55 and move this to one of my smaller tanks.
 
I think you will love it. Indeed, I would be willing to bet you consider UV a necessity from this point forward (soon as you see the benefits.)

In 3 days your water should become VERY CLEAR, it will tend to stay that way--even through aquarium cleanings/filter-cleanings/"events"/etc. it will show a tendency to stay that way or recover much quicker than you have ever seen without UV.

Good luck!

Regards,
TA
 
I hope you are right. I mainly jumped on it because it was so cheap and figured if it worked as well as everyone says they do especially in disease and parasite control then I would go ahead and spend the money and put one in all my tanks. Thanks again for your help.
 
i don't subscribe to the whole 1/2 wpg thing myself. that's really a lot imo. 9w for a 50 gal should be about good. i run 15 watts on mine because i found a diy one and wanted to be able to build another one myself. any size uvc should be able to put a decent dent in anything in a 50 gallon really. going higher just assures you can get better turnover and do the same job therefore increasing efficiency.

the main thing you'll have to do the numbers on is exposure time in a single pass... that's what really determines what you can kill. my filter is rated somewhere around 250 gph. it's packed with media, has a heater plumbed in, a uv sterilizer and a spray bar that all reduce that. i believe my uvc is rated useful for protozoans around 300 gph... i'm more than covered.

and if you run it 12 hours a day the bulbs last twice as long. i do and i get great results. i want to lower that but i'm too cheap to buy another timer for it.
 
dundadundun said:
i don't subscribe to the whole 1/2 wpg thing myself. that's really a lot imo. 9w for a 50 gal should be about good. i run 15 watts on mine because i found a diy one and wanted to be able to build another one myself. ...
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Yeah, perhaps that is the reason you and I have such different results from the UV ... I am open to that possibility. I mean, my redox level must be levels above yours!

Regards,
TA
 
Well, here are the specs on mine:

9W submersible UV sterilizer
Dimension: 12 X 3.9 X 3.5 inches (L x W x H)
Voltage: 110V/60Hz
Pump Power: 8W, efficient draws, runs cool
adjustable output nozzle
Max Flow: 216 GPH
Good for up to 75 Gallon tanks

The output is pretty good. It really moves the water throughout the whole tank. It is almost too strong. This has the quartz sleeve and the water goes through some bio chem cotton before the sterilizer too. If you look at the link in my first post you can see a diagram of how it is put together. I am hoping it is sufficient enough to take care of/reduce disease and parasites in the tank as well as help with the overall clarity of the water.


 
TechAquaria said:
Yeah, perhaps that is the reason you and I have such different results from the UV ... I am open to that possibility. I mean, my redox level must be levels above yours!

Regards,
TA
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ONCE AGAIN, have you been paying attention? i prevented ich from spreading with mine... think about it!
 
dundadundun said:
ONCE AGAIN, have you been paying attention? i prevented ich from spreading with mine... think about it!
Click to expand...

Are we even on the same page? In another thread running right now, we are discussing algae, it is hard to keep these threads totally separated ... you are claiming that your unit is sufficient, it may be, at least for ICK. So, that takes us away from ICK, to algae, where it is not ... and is where the redox comes into question ...

Tell you what, take a dry clean UV unit. Plug it in with no hoses on it, just a few seconds, now smell the air coming out of one tube on the unit; when you do this, notice the smell of Ozone. Now, when water, with dissolved oxygen flows through the unit, what do you think is happening? HINT: much, or perhaps a high portion of that oxygen is becoming dissolved O2 in the water.

Google ozone and algae on the web ...

Regards,
TA
 
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