Uv sterilizer
- Thread starter kenand
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for a 90g i believe a 15W UV can be sufficient, but the real decision lies with if you want UV for algae/water clarity, or anti-parasite?
i have 0 experience with UV, but i've read many posts indicating the above question. once you have an answer its mainly about getting a pump to match the flow it needs to do what you decide
i have 0 experience with UV, but i've read many posts indicating the above question. once you have an answer its mainly about getting a pump to match the flow it needs to do what you decide
Before you purchase a UV sterilizer, do some research. People that say a UV did nothing for their tank did not purchase the correct UV or installed it wrong. It is absolutely critical to purchase the correct size for what you want to accomplish. The correct flow is necessary for success. The mistake people make is they buy a UV that is too small.
If you are wanting to control algae, purchase a UV double what you think you will need. If wanting to control parasites, go as big as you can afford and will fit in your space. Controlling parasites needs a lot of watts with low flow. So do some research and search this forum the numerous threads on UV’s. I recommend a UV large enough to control both when needed. When in doubt, go bigger.
By the way, a UV will not strip the water column of “all the good stuff. “ Your bacteria and water will be perfectly fine running through a UV.
If you are wanting to control algae, purchase a UV double what you think you will need. If wanting to control parasites, go as big as you can afford and will fit in your space. Controlling parasites needs a lot of watts with low flow. So do some research and search this forum the numerous threads on UV’s. I recommend a UV large enough to control both when needed. When in doubt, go bigger.
By the way, a UV will not strip the water column of “all the good stuff. “ Your bacteria and water will be perfectly fine running through a UV.
kenand
Active Member
What do you recommend for 90 gallon? I have a the Reef octo various 6 return pump. It's on the lowest setting now and no room in the sump. I really just want the water clarity.
Thanks in advance for your help.
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If water clarity is what you're going for, maybe a UV is not the best tool for you? Are you running a filter roller? If not, consider if you can replace your sock section with a small roller such as the Clarisea 3000 or the small RF Smart Roller.
Alternatively, you can look in to whether Ozone may be something you have the courage to try out!
I run ozone for clarity and a big UV for parasite control.
If you feel you need a UV for water clarity, might I ask in to what is your current maintenance / water change regiment?
I wouldn't buy UV based on best budget. BRS has good videos explaining the wattage and flow requirement between algae control and pathogens. In the 90s I bought an Emperor because it was considered the best. Ended up not installing it because of space constrains but I'm now either adding a Pantair (bought Emperor) or Aqua UV. I'll be running ozone and hydrogen peroxide with it and for that reason I'm considering Aqua UV since they have a combo unit that produces ozone by utilizing 185nm UV as air passes through the enlarged case. I'm hoping to solve both algae and pathogen but not exactly finalized on how to apply all this and likely will start by testing on a smaller 15g cube.
Something I've deduced is that one could get an oversized UV and possibly solve both algae and pathogens based on the Pentair recommendations for both. Seems three times tank turnover plus one watt per gallon resolves both but not 100% sure on that and still doing more research. Plus not sure how flow affects dissipation of both ozone and hydrogen peroxide based on UV-C wattage. Could be I just need to adjust flow to ensure full dissipation of either to effectively remove both algae and pathogens along with oxidizing biological matter. Only one way to know is read the literature or test it and I'm struggling to find the literature therefore best test it.
Something I've deduced is that one could get an oversized UV and possibly solve both algae and pathogens based on the Pentair recommendations for both. Seems three times tank turnover plus one watt per gallon resolves both but not 100% sure on that and still doing more research. Plus not sure how flow affects dissipation of both ozone and hydrogen peroxide based on UV-C wattage. Could be I just need to adjust flow to ensure full dissipation of either to effectively remove both algae and pathogens along with oxidizing biological matter. Only one way to know is read the literature or test it and I'm struggling to find the literature therefore best test it.
From my experience, a return line is not ideal for a UV sterilizer. You can’t control flow and get good tank circulation. Use a separate pump that returns to the sump. I control the flow for parasites because I like to keep tangs that are prone to flukes. I use an icecap that was a bit tricky to get set up. Would go with a pentair if I had to do it again. But the icecap performs great. You will need a separate GFCi for the UV light. The water and electricity get very close with this and you don’t want any problems.
Also, don’t run it 24/7. Use a timer
The most effective way is to plumb a UV from your sump to your tank via a pump that can increase or decrease the speed of water so you know exactly how much water is flowing though your UV per hour. This is critical information. Next is the wattage that is necessary to kill the algae as it passes through the UV. A 25 watt unit would be the minimum I would purchase. I would buy a 80 watt pentair if you could afford it and this way, all you would have to do is slow down the speed of the pump and you could use it to fight off Protozoa if necessary.
Buy a quality unit that will last. Lastly, always use more watts than recommended as there is lots of misinformation and debate on how much wattage is needed- especially for Protozoa. A good UV will definitely increase water quality and help fight algae outbreaks.
kenand
Active Member
I have the reefmat 500 and a 10 gallon water change once a week.
The same GFCI your tank is on is fine. No need to have it on a separate one unless you want to for more redundancy.
Why is this?
AQUA UV (the best in the biz) specifically says NOT to run them on a timer as it prematurely burns out the bulb from repeatedly cycling on and off. It's supposed to run 24/7
I have experience with my ICECAP 40 watt blowing a breaker several times when it was new. User error for sure, but the instructions were not clear to me. Thankfully I run 3 separate GFCI circuits for my display tank. There are very inexpensive yellow boxes that add GFCI protection to any outlet or power strip. I have seen many UV sterilizers that rely on a rubber gasket to keep water from electricity. Not something I would sleep well with.
Running a timer definitely decreases bulb life you are right. But if you don’t want to kill all beneficial bacteria, a timer is recommended.
dangles
Well-Known Member
I hope you like grey answers with lots of caveats 
Take each opinion here with a grain of salt - even if it sounds right. I'm pretty new as well, but when I was doing the research and shopping around, these are the conclusions I came to...
First, it's definitely one of those issues where you have AMAZINGLY successful tanks both WITH and WITHOUT UV.
As far as destroying good bacteria - YES it absolutely can an does destroy good bacteria. Anybody who says differently doesn't have a real understanding of what UV actually does. UV is indiscriminate. SIZE of the lifeform and DOSE of UV is what determines what gets killed and what doesn't. The higher the cumulative or one-time dose, the larger the lifeform it kills. A higher dose can be achieved by some combination of longer dwell time, higher wattage UV, and frequency of exposure. This is why there's so much debate about "what dose should I be running." But in general, if it kills LARGE lifeforms (i.e. fish parasites) it will BY THE LAWS OF NATURE also kill anything smaller.
Here's Aqua UV's dose chart with my own tank's info highlighted as an example:
Notice how a SLOWER flow rate means a HIGHER dose. Slower flow means longer dwell time. That's why they recommend a slower flow rate for LARGER organisms. But that means it will also kill anything smaller than that. That's also why they don't recommend those higher dosages for reef tanks (see below).
Now consider what that means for choosing a size... As an extreme example, if you get a 240 watt unit for a 70 gallon tank you'll be NUKING EVERYTHING that passes through - good, bad, neutral - no matter HOW the flow rate is set. Oversizing your UV just means it will be easier to kill things, which may not be a good thing if you'll trying to selectively kill SMALLER things (bacteria, algae, etc.)
From the Aqua UV user manuals:
Now if you dig into Pentair's recommendations, they're quite a bit different. I don't remember them specifically but when I was shopping around that was one of my frustrations. This is one of many examples in the industry of a subject with not enough research behind it. You have the 2 biggest players in the UV game making different recommendations, BUT people are having success with both
This is what AquaBiomics has to say about UV sterilizers:
aquabiomics.com
Given that Aquabiomics is not trying to sell UV sterilizers, I'd take their input pretty seriously
Even so, there are just SO MANY VARIABLES to consider. Some way one person runs UV will work for them, but not for somebody else because of some other variable (or more likely many variables) in their system. And there are of course TONS of people who DON'T run it and have wildly successful tanks.
Welcome to reefing
Take each opinion here with a grain of salt - even if it sounds right. I'm pretty new as well, but when I was doing the research and shopping around, these are the conclusions I came to...
First, it's definitely one of those issues where you have AMAZINGLY successful tanks both WITH and WITHOUT UV.
As far as destroying good bacteria - YES it absolutely can an does destroy good bacteria. Anybody who says differently doesn't have a real understanding of what UV actually does. UV is indiscriminate. SIZE of the lifeform and DOSE of UV is what determines what gets killed and what doesn't. The higher the cumulative or one-time dose, the larger the lifeform it kills. A higher dose can be achieved by some combination of longer dwell time, higher wattage UV, and frequency of exposure. This is why there's so much debate about "what dose should I be running." But in general, if it kills LARGE lifeforms (i.e. fish parasites) it will BY THE LAWS OF NATURE also kill anything smaller.
Here's Aqua UV's dose chart with my own tank's info highlighted as an example:
Notice how a SLOWER flow rate means a HIGHER dose. Slower flow means longer dwell time. That's why they recommend a slower flow rate for LARGER organisms. But that means it will also kill anything smaller than that. That's also why they don't recommend those higher dosages for reef tanks (see below).
Now consider what that means for choosing a size... As an extreme example, if you get a 240 watt unit for a 70 gallon tank you'll be NUKING EVERYTHING that passes through - good, bad, neutral - no matter HOW the flow rate is set. Oversizing your UV just means it will be easier to kill things, which may not be a good thing if you'll trying to selectively kill SMALLER things (bacteria, algae, etc.)
From the Aqua UV user manuals:
Now if you dig into Pentair's recommendations, they're quite a bit different. I don't remember them specifically but when I was shopping around that was one of my frustrations. This is one of many examples in the industry of a subject with not enough research behind it. You have the 2 biggest players in the UV game making different recommendations, BUT people are having success with both
This is what AquaBiomics has to say about UV sterilizers:
How does a UV sterilizer affect the microbiome?
Microbiome testing for aquariums and aquaculture
aquabiomics.com
Given that Aquabiomics is not trying to sell UV sterilizers, I'd take their input pretty seriously
Even so, there are just SO MANY VARIABLES to consider. Some way one person runs UV will work for them, but not for somebody else because of some other variable (or more likely many variables) in their system. And there are of course TONS of people who DON'T run it and have wildly successful tanks.
Welcome to reefing
UV doesn’t have to be run 24/7.
Stay off when feeding live phyto.
My understanding of pelagic bacteria being they can be easily added with bacteria in the bottle and I know from experience that carbon dosing gone wild can quickly have those bacteria go wild to the point they exhaust available DO
As with anything. Understand the pros and cons and work around them. Rather wipe out all harmful life and sacrifice that I can easily replace vs hoping once a problem is observed that I’ll be able to solve it. Ounce of prevention approach because once an ich outbreak occurs I’m being told UV won’t solve it.
I’m planning on one watt per gallon and see if that solves both algae and pathogens. Flow will be adjusted from 3x tank turnover per hour to 20x and see how that works out. Only one way to find out. Just do it as that guy from those transforming cars once said before ruining his career lol
Stay off when feeding live phyto.
My understanding of pelagic bacteria being they can be easily added with bacteria in the bottle and I know from experience that carbon dosing gone wild can quickly have those bacteria go wild to the point they exhaust available DO
As with anything. Understand the pros and cons and work around them. Rather wipe out all harmful life and sacrifice that I can easily replace vs hoping once a problem is observed that I’ll be able to solve it. Ounce of prevention approach because once an ich outbreak occurs I’m being told UV won’t solve it.
I’m planning on one watt per gallon and see if that solves both algae and pathogens. Flow will be adjusted from 3x tank turnover per hour to 20x and see how that works out. Only one way to find out. Just do it as that guy from those transforming cars once said before ruining his career lol
IKD
2500 Club Member
If you’re just looking for water clarity, I would look options like carbon and/or ozone versus UV. I use ozone due to my tank size, but a carbon reactor worked really well clearing up the water.
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