UV sterilizer advice?

[psimitry]

So I've kinda decided to put a UV sterilizer in my tank. And I'm looking over the options. Currently, I run a 50G tank, but that's going to be upgraded to a 90G the next few days.

The thoughts I've had on this is to get a powerful enough unit to handle the overflow from my tank. The thinking behind it being that it could sterilize all water flowing into my sump, and would have its organics skimmed out once in there.

The problem is that my sump circulates at around 600GPH and finding a UV sterilizer that can handle that flow rate without completely breaking the bank is being a bit problematic.

I'm intrigued by the Coralife Turbo-Twist sterilizers but am not convinced they could handle the flowrate I want to put through it without going to the 36W model.

So I don't know if my thinking of sterilizing my entire downward flow is correct or even necessary - it's just the thinking I have (if I'm wrong, please tell me).

However, I did notice a new UV sterilizer out on the market: the JBJ Submariner. It's apparently a powerhead/UV sterilizer combo. I think the idea is a novel one, but I haven't been able to find any reviews on them that have gleaned any useful information. Anyone know much about them (or have personal experience with them)?

Advice is appreciated.

Edit: I've also heard that UV sterilizers can MASSIVELY increase the temperature of the water. I don't really see how this is possible considering that the max wattage I'd be utilizing would be 36 and I don't see how all that could be converted to heat going into the water, but I thought I'd bring it up.

[WarrenG]

I've had 4 or 5 different UV sterilizers. The turbo twist is crap. The twist is made with flimsy tubing that blocks light and will eventually fall apart like it did in the one I had.

Rainbow Lifegaurd has a good design and mine has held up just fine. Replacement parts are easy to get too.

25w is plenty for your tank. Split the return so that a valve controls how much goes to the UV. An inexpensive flowmeter ($15) will indicate how much flow is going through the UV.

The bulb output of a 25w lamp heating water...? That's not much heat energy.

[psimitry]

See, I don't know why. But for some reason, I am hoping I can split off the drain line rather than the return. I am going to have a pretty decent fuge in my new tank, and I hate that most of the critters I grow in there will be dead before they reach the tank.

(I know the ones draining will be dead in the ideal situation, but I'm thinking that the plankton heading up the line from the fuge will be greater than what's heading down the line from the drain)

[DarG]

A decent kill rate with 600 GPH flowing through a UV and you are going to need a much larger UV than 25 watts. Aside from that, a properly designed UV sterilizer has a relatively small area for water to flow through. You usually have a Quartz sleeve and then only a few mm between it and the wall of the unit. 600 GPH will not passivley flow though a standard hobbyist unit without backing up. You are far better off going with a typical unit for your tank, maybe 25 watts for 90 gallon tank, and pumping 1X - 2X the tank volume per hour through the unit. UV sterilizers are very misunderstood. Hopefully and expert will chime in with specifics but you cannot kill absolutely everything with a "typical" unit at typical flow rates. It takes much larger units or ridiculously slow flow rates through smaller, 15, 25, 30 watt, units to kill absolutely everything with a single pass (or multiple passes for that matter).

You may be able to split the return and flow a smaller amount through the unit, but trying to pass all the overflow water through it isnt a feasible approach for the smaller units. And it probably isnt desireable to install a huge unit that would handle 600 GPH with a 100% single pass kill rate of everything.

[WarrenG]

So... make it a 3-way split return. A valve to regulate flow to the UV, another valve for the 'fuge and everything else goes directly back to the tank. That's how my return is plumbed.

[DarG]

That woould work fine. I do the same thing with a 2 split after the chiller. Regulated flow through the UV and the rest to the tank directly. But the OP is talking about feeding the UV with the drain, not the return. Thats what I was replying to.