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Matt 
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 Topic: UV sterilizer
Posted: April 19 2014 at 2:26pm |
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How do you pick what size of UV sterilizer to use. I read this on Marine depot.
"How do I size a UV for a Reef Tanks? In
salt water reef environments choose a UV that matches your flow rate
per hour in the 30,000 or 45,000 columns of our chart. Flow rates in the
75,000 and 90,000 columns will destroy the planktonic food supply for
the reef. "
So do I still need to pick one up for my appropriate size of tank and then crank the water flow to get it to the 30,000-45,000?
The 25w UV sterilizer says to get in that range I would need to put 800-1200 gph through the sterilizer. Seem really high flow to be but I know nothing about them really. Or do I buy like an 8w that only wants like 400-600 gph but is rated for a 70g tank instead of a 150g.
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Matt Savage
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: April 19 2014 at 3:31pm |
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I'd buy the twenty five watt for sure. I've only use the eight on a nano or quarantine tank. Then just run it around three hundred gph. Best to just have your drain run through it going to the sump.
Adam
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Matt
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Posted: April 19 2014 at 3:51pm |
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Well right now I have about 2300 gph going through my drain.
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Matt Savage
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Matt
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Posted: April 19 2014 at 3:54pm |
 Adam Blundell wrote:
I'd buy the twenty five watt for sure. I've only use the eight on a nano or quarantine tank. Then just run it around three hundred gph. Best to just have your drain run through it going to the sump.
Adam |
Also if I run it at that it says it will kill the planktonic food supply.
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Matt Savage
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: April 19 2014 at 4:42pm |
Yes, they kill about everything.
Adam
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Bryce
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Posted: April 19 2014 at 5:07pm |
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I wouldnt run one and I say that after running one for a long time and then just recently (2 months ago)removed it and in combination with dosing a bacteria and food source have seen amazing results - long term effects TBD. Now MANY people run them, have amazing tanks so I wont say they have no benefit and I also cant say that removing mine caused 100% of the improvement in algae/ slime in my tank but I have no plans to run uv again, I also quarantined all the fish in my system for 6 weeks in copper (except for my mandarin) so I don't know if I even needed it (some people claim it can help with ich), I was running it because I thought/read it might help with algae but imo it was killing beneficial bacteria but thats just my belief, im not a scientist, haha.
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Matt
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Posted: April 19 2014 at 5:47pm |
Bryce wrote:
I wouldnt run one and I say that after running one for a long time and then just recently (2 months ago)removed it and in combination with dosing a bacteria and food source have seen amazing results - long term effects TBD. Now MANY people run them, have amazing tanks so I wont say they have no benefit and I also cant say that removing mine caused 100% of the improvement in algae/ slime in my tank but I have no plans to run uv again, I also quarantined all the fish in my system for 6 weeks in copper (except for my mandarin) so I don't know if I even needed it (some people claim it can help with ich), I was running it because I thought/read it might help with algae but imo it was killing beneficial bacteria but thats just my belief, im not a scientist, haha. |
Were you running it full bore or were you trying to preserve the planktonic stuff?
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Matt Savage
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Ann_A
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Posted: April 19 2014 at 5:52pm |
I ran a UV sterilizer on my tank following a large ich outbreak and kept it running for about a year and a half. I still had ich every now and again and I didn't find my water to be very much clearer (it was slightly better though). I was running it to kill anything that went through it.
After taking it off I had a slight algae bloom on my glass for about 3 days and have since had very little ich and my parameters are better. I have also seen a lot more pods in my tank, even with 3 wrasses eating them.
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Matt
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Posted: April 19 2014 at 6:10pm |
Ann_A wrote:
I ran a UV sterilizer on my tank following a large ich outbreak and kept it running for about a year and a half. I still had ich every now and again and I didn't find my water to be very much clearer (it was slightly better though). I was running it to kill anything that went through it.
After taking it off I had a slight algae bloom on my glass for about 3 days and have since had very little ich and my parameters are better. I have also seen a lot more pods in my tank, even with 3 wrasses eating them. |
How much UV were your dosing (for lack of a better word)? Are people just getting the one that says its for their size of tank and not taking note to how much UV they are actually using? Were you sterilizing everything or trying to keep the planktonic food in the system? I guess what I am looking for is if I get a UV sterilizer how much UV should I use? Kill everything running full bore or tone it down and try to keep the planktonic food. If people don't really know what they were doing when they ran one I guess it will make it more difficult for me to decide if I want to use one or not.
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Matt Savage
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Ann_A
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Posted: April 19 2014 at 6:20pm |
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I was getting about 70,000-75,000 µw/cm² when I was running it.
Edited by Ann_A - April 19 2014 at 6:22pm
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Matt
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Posted: April 19 2014 at 6:25pm |
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So you were killing most everything. Did you every try to leave the planktonic food intact and see if there was a difference in the way your coral and fish reacted?
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Matt Savage
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Ann_A
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Posted: April 19 2014 at 6:30pm |
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When I first started it up I had a higher flow rate and was getting around 40,000-45,000µw/cm² and didn't notice any difference in my fish or corals. I decreased the flow to increase the intensity in order to help with fighting off the ich. It went away after a few days of running it at a higher intensity but I didn't notice any other differences in my tank.
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Matt
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Posted: April 19 2014 at 6:33pm |
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I read that a UV sterilizer doesn't really do much to help get rid of Ich if your fish already have it. Since it is on them and not in the water column. Did you happen to figure out or read how intense it needs to be to kill most of the nastys?
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Matt Savage
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Ann_A
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Posted: April 19 2014 at 6:36pm |
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I know I did a lot of research on it but honestly I don't remember most of it. The reason I believe it helped with the ich was that the lifecycle of ich includes a free-swimming stage and I think that's where the UV helped out. I'll see if I can't find some of the information I had in the past regarding intensity of UV and let you know.
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Matt
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Posted: April 19 2014 at 6:41pm |
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Thanks a bunch Ann
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Matt Savage
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Ann_A
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Posted: April 19 2014 at 6:48pm |
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Out of curiosity is there anything in particular you are trying to kill with the UV? I personally recommend quarantine and good husbandry to prevent disease and wouldn't use UV as a treatment. I may have gotten rid of the ich with the UV once, but I had it come back many times while running UV. Since pulling all of my fish out and quarantining them for 8 weeks in copper I haven't seen ich in my system.
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Matt
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Posted: April 19 2014 at 7:02pm |
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nothing yet. My new tank is still cycling but trying to do the research before I need it. Preventative maintenance is usually easier than dealing with something after it happens.
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Bryce
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Posted: April 19 2014 at 7:18pm |
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I had a 9watt light on a 400gph cobalt aquatics pump so slow flow which was supposed to kill bacteria which is why I took it off because the bacteria I dose says to remove it. I have a 65 gallon tank.
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65g Reef
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: April 19 2014 at 9:11pm |
What problems am I thinking a UV Sterilizer will prevent? What are the options for achieving the same result? Am I also thinking of running O3 and what are its advantages/disadvantages? What animals am I planning to keep? Which animals benefit and which do not? These are just a few things that would make a difference if I were considering UV. Personally, I would not run UV for the first 3-6 months because I believe it would hinder the development of the most critical part of reef aquarium health, the biofiltration. I believe that SPS coral would rather eat the live plankton that a UV Sterilizer would kill. UV does not kill the bad and leave the good. It kills the same amount of everything. A higher value of UV kills more of everything. Aloha 
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Dion Richins
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Posted: April 20 2014 at 10:10pm |
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Crazy talk. It will only kill the items going through it it ran slow enough. The plankton in your water will not be wiped out unless your running it through your return or supply. I run a 47w with a fairly slow flow through it so I know it is doing its job. (most people run it way to fast and it doesn't do its job.)
I'm after controlling water born algae. I wont control it all just cutting down on how much is in there. Same as having 3 filter socks with a bypass flow. If you don't feed the sump nothing will grow ;)
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