Best UV sterilizer?

[The Saltman]

Hi guys,

What would be the best UV sterilizer to get? I plan on running a UV in a Quarantine tank that would be 20 gallons.

Thanks

[bsagecko]

UV sterilizers arent really worth the money

But if you want one i would go with a used one.

Just make sure that the amount of time and the amount/clarity of the uv hitting the water is high.

[gabe3d]

I was going to suggest Emperor Aquatics but they don't make anything small for a 20gallon, second to them are the Aqua units which do come in smaller wattage.

For a quarantine tank UV is actually beneficial, granted that you don't have any substrate or LR and enough flow in the tank to keep the water moving.

[The Saltman]

What is the smallest unit that they make?

[kdblove_99]

I would also look into the Aqua units

[gabe3d]

Here is a link to their site, perhaps the Advantage line is more suited for a 20gallon. I only have experience with the Twist line, but I'm sure the quality is just as good.

http://www.aquaultraviolet.com/newproducts.htm

[The Saltman]

Gabe, thanks for the link. I didn't know they had UV and ozone combo units. would this be better to get a combo unit that to run a separate uv and ozone unit?

[old salty]

Saltman,

The size of the tank has absolutely nothing to do with sizing up a UV light. If 9 watts of UV is not enough to kill the ich parasite, then using a 9 watt UV light on a 10 gallon tank is no different than using one on a hundred gallon tank.

Figure out what you want to kill, find out how much UV light it takes to kill said organism (and how much exposure to said UV light is required). Once you figure this out, double the wattage and change the bulb every six months. Quartz sleeves are considered the better design because it is not affected by UV exposure (won't yellow or anything.)

[gabe3d]

The wattage of a UV unit from a same series determines how long of a bulb will come with the unit, so the amount of UV light per square inch will be the same. Most design will have the capability of killing protozoan bacterias and the wattage will just determine how much water a unit can process efficiently and effectively.

I've read about those UV/Ozone units but never tried one. I guess it doesn't hurt to buy one since it is about the same price as the regular twist. I believe you can suck the air from the quartz sleeve where the bulb is in. I've tried finding if there is some sort of table that determines how much ozone it generates but i coudln't find one.

[The Saltman]

I know running a UV on a larger system cannot hurt, but is there enough of a benefit to justify it on a large system of lets say 210 gallons running 24/7? My main display is going to be sps dominated, I already plan to run ozone, but am wondering if the UV would be worth it?

[gabe3d]

It's a toss up and an ongoing debate whether to run one on a display or not. However if you do plan to run an ozone already then you might as well run a UV. There are beneficial bacteria in the water column that helps in clarifying water that you will eliminate., if you read up on a product called zeovit it'll make sense to you. Personally, I've had very good luck with UV and run one 24/7. I've always ran one since the start of my tank and at a point i didn't run one for two weeks and my tank started getting more algae growth on the glass and the water was not as clear.

[Roland Jacques]

their has been talk (and from my limited experience I agree,) that any UV less than 25 watts is use-less in any size tank. so 25 watts or don't use one at all. They say the light intensity on smaller UVs are not up to the job even at slow flows.

I like to run 40 watts UVs on all tanks. On reefs I put them on a timer not to interfere with approximate feeding times.