UV Sterilizer

[africandiscus]

Are they worth it. Everywhere you read on the net refers to marine tanks

[Proteus]

for Discus I would strongly recommend one...

UV treatment is extra insurance...

there are several threads about UV treatment in the Equipment forum.

I am about to get a 40+ watt unit for one of my Big Discus tanks (700L) currently I am running 11 watters on my tanks

[africandiscus]

What brand are you looking at?

[Merrilyn]

I also use uvs on two of my tanks. One is an 8 foot grow out tank with up to 40 discus of varying ages. A problem in that tank could set my breeding program back years. The other benefit has been that I no longer have problems with 'green water' as this tank is in a sunroom and always had a problem with too much light. As Proteus stated its more a form of insurance. The second uv is on a 5 ft tank with the more exotic (expensive) pairs.

[africandiscus]

Merrilyn, what brand is it?

How many watts do you require?

[Proteus]

I would suggest 9-11 watts as the minimum.

With UV, bigger is better, but more exposure time is even better still

for instance, if you had a 46w unit with water flowing through at 4500lph, compared with an 11w unit with a flow rate of 750lph, the tank with the 11w unit is the better of the 2.

It comes down to exposure time. I only wish we could get the turbo twist units down here that they have in the U.S. as they force the water to be exposed for a greater amount of time at high flow rates due to the twist channels within the UV housing...

Brands of UV units isnt really a factor, it is more the tube/bulb that is the important factor. I would strongly recommend Philips, as they have a very good line of UV lamps (used in hospitals, aquaculture and other industries that require complete sterilisation of items).

You metioned S... Aquariums in another post, the Atman UV units look good, just replace the included bulb with a REAL bulb and you wont go wrong.

I cant tell you the brand I have at the moment, they are German, and thats about all I know until I read the label again (Philips tube though)

[Merrilyn]

Not too good on the technical side of things, but it is a 9 watt UV Steriliser sold as a pond uv suitable for a flow rate of up to 4500 lts per hour. At that rate it would only remove algae, but I have it hooked up to the return pipe of an Eheim Pro filter with a flow rate of 600 lts per hour. To kill all the unwanted pathogens in the water you need a longer exposure time to the uv rays, hence the slower flow rate. Can't see the brand name as it's mounted to the wall, but from memory it was about $299 for each. Purchased from a lfs which was also heavy into pond equipment.

[Escher]

Hi Proteus

The Hozelock uv have a "turbulator" gizmo. It makes the water revolve around the globe a few time before exiting. Is this what you mean by "I only wish we could get the turbo twist"? I have a 9w for my pond similar to the one on this link http://members.ozemail.com.au/~kentfish/UVHozelock.htm


Gianluca

[africandiscus]

I have a technical question.

My Eheim canister filter has a flow 1000L per hour. If I connect it to a UV Sterilizer with a flow rate of 4500L/h, would I get the extra benifit because it has a bigger uv bulb than a smaller unit with a lower flow rate and a smaller bulb.

Is there ever a situation where there is too much UV and it destroys all good bacteria?

[africandiscus]

I would like to buy the one in the classifieds. It is an awsome price

http://www.aquaclassifieds.com.au/li...75ee1c8a37f2ba