Steriliser tubes

[Dat]

Hi,
i want to get a UV steriliser but i'm not sure what to get. I have a few questions that I hope some of you can answer.

1. Does brand name matter much in ragards to these things? I mean, there's no moving parts so there shouldn't be much maintenance to do except to replace the bulb right? So is it worth it to invest in a more expensive brand?

2. What is a good brand that you would recommend and have experience with?

3. now i'm a bit unsure about the bulbs. Will any brand of bulb work with any brand of the UV housing unit?

4. Where's a good place to buy a UV steriliser.

Thanks in advance.
Dat

[ILLUSN]

Like everything else you get what you pay for, the most important aspect of any UV sterilizer is the contact time with the water and how much UV you can pump into it. Laguna make a cheap and nasty sterilizer with some of the worst plastics I've ever seen, however the spiral contact chamber gives a great exposure time and so my 55W keeps dad's pond (44000L pool) green water free. pond master arn't too bad I've got an 18W, best is got to a few shops have a look and a feel then hit ASA or a few other online places and try to get the best price. remember most are designed to eliminate green water as in free floating algae not kill disease, you need a much higher wattage to kill bacteria and higher still to kill parasites.

[Dat]

Thanks for the reply ILLUSN,

would a 25-35 watts unit do the job of killing bacteria? flow rate would be around 800-1000l/hr

How long have you had the pondmaster for? would you say that it is of good worksmanship?

[ILLUSN]

25-35 should be ok, try to maximise exposure time to the tube, i really don't know if my 18W uv is doing anything on my 400L tank but i havn't had anydisease except a bit of mouth fungus on 1 cardinal, who had it when i bought him. pond master plastics are much better then laguna but i prefer the laguna "contact chamber"