UV Sterilizer

[parmoffitt]

Hello Everyone...I have just joined the ARC and went to the frag swap. I had a wonderful time.

My question is my Coralife 18W UV Sterilizer bit the dust at three years due to water leakage problems. I researched and found that leakages is typical of this unit.

Do I really need another one? I am not sure if they do any good. If you feel I should replace mine what brand would you get?

I have a 3.5 yr old 90 gallon reef.

 

[dakota9]

If you do not plan on any more aquisitions for your tank, IMHO then you could easily fore-go a new UV.

I swore by mine when I first started using it 3 months ago, now I'm not certain /I get any advantage from using it.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Most people do not get any advantage from a UV because they follow the directions and run water through it WAY too fast for it to be effective against the types of things you want to protect against. In the limited testing that I have done, I run mine through a 9W turbo twist at about 65gph about 1/2 half of how much flow the unit COULD handle. In theory this should allow for the needed amount of UV contact time to kill most anything that passes through it.

I am not sold on a UV, I still get algae on the glass from time to time. At 65gph is it not going to catch alot of what is in my 55gal tank. I personally do not think they are needed at all and do nothing for you that good husbandry won't do better.

I vote to save your money and use that elsewhere!! But that is just my honest opinion.

 

[parmoffitt]

I was wondering if they work at all. How do you really know?
I have some hair algae while the UV was up and running so I have my doubts as to whether a UV stops algae.

I plan to just leave things as they are and see how things progress. I do not plan to get any more fish so will take the advice offered and do nothing.

Thanks!

 

[skriz]

I've always thought they were crap. Brandon touched on one point. The other is that you would constantly have to keep it clean for it to be effective. Also, the bulb loses efficiency pretty quickly.

 

[saltwater junky]

uv light will not kill hair algae or prevent algae on the glass.they only help prevent algae blooms in your water column, aka (green water syndrome).so if you have dingy water this is the item for you.as far as ick and what not nobody really knows.

 

[parmoffitt]

I liked the l+l=l drop of water from Skriz. I am so glad not to have to dump the water from a collection cup back into the tank.

Speaking of water flooding the house, what do you think of tapping into the RO/DI system and running a line into the basement for top off system? I was excited about getting rid of the two 5 gallon jugs beside the tank but my DH absolutely won't do it to my disappointment. He says the valve to the unit can fail and flood the house and if ours failed we would only have to deal with a 10 gallon flood.

My sister had her top off system run from the ro/di system under her crawl space and the first valve while being installed didn't work and was replaced so how "do" you contend with a valve that suddenly doesn't work while your on vacation? Yikes!!!!!!!!

 

[reefreaper]

I installed one for a guy a couple of weeks ago. It was a Tsunami and it works off air pressure. A tube is placed on the wall of the sump and when the water drops below the tube, air pressure triggers a pump to come on and top off the sump. The idea is good but I'm a little worried about salt creep clogging the air line. IMO the best thing is still the good old fashioned float valve plumbed into an RODI. Everything has the potential to fail but these have been around forever and seem to work pretty well.