# Coralife Turbo Twist UV



## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Hey folks- I've had this Coralife Turbo Twist UV sterilizer for about 2 years now. It seems once a year, the ballast burns out. 

Now to be fair- Coralife has been great. Every time I call with a problem, they ship me new parts for free (and not cheap parts!).

Lately my water has been cloudy and one of my angels appears to have ick. What the hell? Nothing is new with the tank. The light seems to be working... is this the bulb going out? 

Has anyone else found themselves replacing their UV ballasts a lot? How much life do you usually get out of the bulb? 

If you're thinking of buying this one, SAVE YOUR RECIEPT!!! Coralife is a pleasure to work with but they absolutely want that purchase info.


----------



## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

Hi Emily

I sounds like you may have a ballast and/or UV PC problem. As you know, the UV will only kill the free floating Ich spores and not any that are already attached.

I have the 36w PC version. After 5 months, it blew its ballast. I got another ballast and something is wrong with this one. It blows bulbs after only a few days. I found an article talking about Coralife's Turbo-Twist UV's and the article mentioned that these UV's have very bad ballasts. One company has an 100% failure rate with them.

So, instead of getting another stock ballast, I removed the stock ballast and replaced it with a Fulham WorkHorse 3 that I had from an old AHSupply kit. This is the same ballast used in AHSupply's 1x36w and 1x55w PC DIY kits. So far, this is working terrific. The water is very clear looking. Here is my post about rewiring it.

If you are interested in replacing your Coralife ballast with a good one like the WorkHorse models, let me know and I will help you. It is very simple to do.

The Coralife UV ballast article is found near the bottom of this page. It says:
_"*Coralife Turbo-Twist UV Sterilizer; Review, Ballast & Dwell Time Problems*

Updated 10/30/11

Oceanic Coralife Turbo Twist UV SterilizerCoralife (by Oceanic) Turbo-Twist UV Sterilizers are considered by many to be the among the two most efficient compact UV Sterilizers for ultraviolet sterilization on the market today. However this is really NOT the case as their design has Poor UVC dwell time and worse (as per extensive use by a large aquarium/pond maintenance company), the ballasts in the Turbo Twist have a 100% failure rate within the first 2-3 years, resulting in new UV-C Bulbs not being able to properly light.

The Turbo Twist feature a quartz glass sleeve with a PL compact fluorescent UV lamp surrounded by a unique "Turbo-Twist" flow design to increase contact time, which in turn increases efficiency.
Continuous ultraviolet sterilization of your aquarium or pond water eliminates single-cell algae for crystal-clear aquariums/ponds and also eradicates many harmful microorganisms on the initial pass through the chamber (depending upon flow rate).

The Coralife Turbo Twist is available in 3 models:
*Turbo-Twist 3X which requires a 9 Watt UV Bulb/Lamp

*Turbo-Twist 6X which requires a 18 Watt UV Bulb/Lamp

*Turbo-Twist 12X which requires a 36 Watt UV Bulb/Lamp

From mine and others in the professional Aquarium/Pond maintenance business use of the Coralife Turbo Twist UV Sterilizers, I have found this UV to be among the best of the Compact Design style (which utilize PLL/G11 & PLS/G23 UV Bulbs/Lamps).

Beside the very serious ballast issue, my other complaint is the "Twist"/Baffle design (this is more of a gimmick) does not provide any more dwell/exposure time (this based on controlled tests I might add) as the other top Compact UV Sterilizer; the Terminator by Via Aqua, and the cost of the Turbo Twist is generally about 25% more for slightly lower results due to lower UV-C penetration due to the baffles moving water from optimum UV-C exposure distance.
However as compared to the Tetra and especially the Jebo (as well as others), the results for the Oceanic Coralife Turbo Twist are better.

This said, your best choice for a UV Sterilizer if you are serious about performance and quality is the TMC Advantage/ Vecton UV Sterilizer line.

Coralife Turbo-Twist UV Sterilizers have been designed for use in all freshwater and saltwater aquatic systems."_

Also Emily, Carl Strohmeyer has a good article about UV's. You might find it useful if you haven't already seen it. It has many links to other UV articles too.

I hope this helps you.
Left C


----------



## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Wow, thanks for all the awesome info!! The weird thing about the ich is that this has happened a few times where it shows up on the same fish and then goes away- the fish seems unaffected. So it doesn't really worry me- it's just weird. I did know that it only kills the spore cycle- but somehow it keeps reattaching to this fish every few months. And that's the mystery of it to me.

I'm going to read up on the re-wiring page you linked- I'm really sick of green water emergencies when the ballast or bulb dies.

How long is a bulb supposed to last? I know they're probably prone to the same problems as all fluorescents in that eventually it looses its effective spectrum.

More reading... 

Thanks!


----------



## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Bonus question-

Every time the UV conks out, I get green water. Is this because something else is wrong and being covered up by the UV? Should I work on my balance? Or is this just going to happen no matter what?


----------



## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

I'll answer my own question in the event someone else reads this thread for advice:

The Turbo Twist 9w 3X bulbs are good for 8000 hrs. I'll also spare you the math and say that works out to be just less than 11 months if you have it on all the time, 24/7.

Just bought new bulbs...


----------



## inkslinger (Jan 1, 2005)

You really don't need it to be on 24/7 , I've had the 9w last a couple of years ,but I only use it if I saw 
any problems with my water or fish . I've also read where it's possible that you will kill a lot of good minerals
for planted tanks.


----------



## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

Hi Emily

I'm glad that my info helped a bit. That Carl Strohmeyer article has good info and links to more good info and these links have more and so on. Plenty of good reading.

I have read that the UV PC bulbs last 10 to 12 months when running 24/7. Also, I have read that using them 24/7 causes the bulb to last more running hours than switching them off daily. They don't last quite as long when you count their running hours. This is just what I read somewhere and I don't have any proof to back up the statement. I know that many people do not run their UV 24/7 just like inkslinger suggests and only run them part of the time. I cut my filter, UV, heater and needle wheel pump off for a few minutes when I feed the fish.

Your 9w UV will work with a Fulham WorkHorse 1 ballast (A WorkHorse 2 will also work - diagram2 for a WorkHorse 2). Do you have one of your old, blown ballasts that you could use? Installation is easy. Just cut the wires coming out of the ballast. One set plugs into the electrical supply. The other wire goes to your G23 UV PC. Be sure to cut off the small cylinder in the wiring a few inches from the ballast. It is a little smaller than a spool of sewing thread. Then you wire in the Fulham Ballast. The wiring diagram is "Diagram 3 for a WorkHorse 1." If you decide to do this, I can go into more detail about wiring it. There are a few more tips that I need to tell you. You can make this mod in less than 30 minutes. Fulham WorkHorse Wiring Diagrams. To use, select Twin, 1x9w and 120v: http://fulham.com/Find_Process.php

My 36w UV's flow rates and UVC Energy graph found on the last page of the instruction manual. (uw sec/cm^2 = microwatt-seconds per centimeter square)
45,000 uw sec/cm^2 - 290 gph - Parasites
20,000 uw sec/cm^2 - 680 gph - Algae
10,000 uw sec/cm^2 - 1550 gph - Bacteria

My 36w UV is fed by an Eheim 2028 rated at 277 gph. From the info from the graph you can see that my UV set-up will kill Parasites, Algae and Bacteria because of my flow rates and my UV's UC energy. This UV works with my flow rates.

Your 9w UV's flow rates and UVC Energy graph found on the last page.
45,000 uw sec/cm^2 - 55 gph - Parasites
20,000 uw sec/cm^2 - 121 gph - Algae
10,000 uw sec/cm^2 - 253 gph - Bacteria

I don't know how you have your 9w UV plumbed. This info above will give you an idea of what your UV can do. I read on Aqua Ultrviolet's site that they recommend 30,000 uw sec/cm^2 for a freshwater aquarium.

- Left C


----------



## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Wow I'm a little over whlemed. 

Anyway, I'm going to try a number of things before I turn to re-wiring (but thanks for all that info!).

I replaced my T5 HO bulbs. I'm awaiting a UV bulb replacement (it's due). And I cleaned all the filter lines (which were gross) and trimmed the filter speed down a bit. I also cleaned the UV sterlizer and found some junk growing in there. So this combo I'm hoping will bring on more clarity.

Thanks again for all the info!


----------



## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

Wow, it was a mess, wasn't it?!! Germa-Goo was everywhere!!!

The WorkHorse ballasts are load sensing and only put out the wattage that is needed. This means that if the part that they need to run is 9 watts like the bulb in your UV, that is all the wattage that it will supply. (They can be wired to overdrive, I think. But, if you follow the wiring in Fulham's wiring diagram, you avoid overdriving it.) Your 9w bulb only uses 2 wires and is very simple to do. My 36w uses 4 wires and still is very simple to do. I'm no electrician and I can do it. That tells you how simple it is to do.

Something that I noticed on my second ballast that blew two bulbs really got my attention when I was checking it out. I had already rewired the other ballast that was blown using the Fulham ballast so that I could compare the difference between them. I put a new bulb in the "unblown" ballast and plugged it in. The bulb didn't look right when it was lit. It pulsed somewhat. It really wasn't running the new UV PC bulb very "cleanly." I was holding the cap where the bulb plugs in to it in my hand so that I could see it. Then I put the same bulb in the rewired Fulham ballast cap. The bulb looked much different when it was lit. It wasn't pulsing and the bulb ran "cleanly." I could really tell a difference. It wasn't that it was brighter because it wasn't overdriven. It just looked much better and cleaner. This is the best that I can describe the difference between them. Does this make sense to you what I am describing?

In my first post to you, I wrote a quote from the company that had an 100% failure rate. Part of this quote said: "the ballasts in the Turbo Twist have a 100% failure rate within the first 2-3 years, *resulting in new UV-C Bulbs not being able to properly light.*" The part of the sentence that says: "not being able to properly light" got my attention. This means that the bulb will light, but it won't be running correctly. This is exactly what I saw when I was comparing the stock ballast lit bulb to the Fulham ballast lit bulb. It was a profound difference.

I don't know if my jabbering makes good sense, but there really was a difference. I could see the little pig tail loops in the bulbs' filaments near the pins not firing correctly in the stock ballast cap. Only part of the loops were bright. With the Fulham ballast cap, all the pig tail loops on both sides were lit. The bulb wasn't pulsing. It was just nice clean light.

Maybe you can check out yours before you screw the bulb and its cap back into the main housing body. If you see what I saw, you will know what to do. The WorkHorse 1 ballast is around $20 plus shipping. You will need the 120V version and not the 277V version. http://www.prolighting.com/wo1elba12.html

I know that cleaning yours will make a huge difference. I hope that is all that you need to do to get it going again.


----------



## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Yeah, I hate bio-film. And unplugging everything to clean all those hoses. Uhg. Some day they'll make a cabinet with built-in outlets which are some how well lit and labeled. My masking tape lables and crappy LED stick-um lights are not inspiring.

Interesting- I'll definitely be sure to pay attention when I take the old bulb out and replace it this weekend- see what the current bulb is doing exactly.

When my ballasts went, the classic scenario was that the bulb would briefly light when plugged back in, only to wink out again in a matter of 2 seconds. I've never noticed the strobing or pulsing you describe but maybe that's what happens prior to total failure (the point at which green water grabs my attention). 

Because they ship me totally new ballasts every time (actually, they ship me the whole screw-on portion with the plug and all), I suspect the bulb works properly for at least some period of time. But maybe rewiring it would just be easier in the long run compared to wondering at what stage in its ultimate failure I'm in.

I'll investigate this further.


----------



## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

What size tank are you running it on and what gph are you running through it? My understanding is that you need quite a lot of exposure to kill pathogens and not nearly as much to kill free floating algae.


----------



## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

Emily6 said:


> Yeah, I hate bio-film. And unplugging everything to clean all those hoses. Uhg. Some day they'll make a cabinet with built-in outlets which are some how well lit and labeled. My masking tape labels and crappy LED stick-um lights are not inspiring.


Have you seen the Eheim double tap connectors? They have 1/2" ID (12/16mm) versions and 5/8" ID (16/22mm) versions. I use them between each part. I can remove a single part using these drip free connections removable connections. And the reinstall it or a new part drip free. Now, my flashlight lighting is another story. 

1/2" ID (12/16mm) double tap for 494 tubing: http://www.bigalspets.com/Eheim-Double-Tap-Connector-Valve/dp/B0002DGYXM
5/8" ID (16mm/22mm) double tap for 594 tubing:http://www.bigalspets.com/Eheim-Double-Tap-Connector-Valve/dp/B00026Z42G



Emily6 said:


> Interesting- I'll definitely be sure to pay attention when I take the old bulb out and replace it this weekend- see what the current bulb is doing exactly.


The bad bulbs have a mercury buildup near the bottom of the clear glass.

We you plug it in, make sure all the pigtails in the light bulb lite up.



Emily6 said:


> When my ballasts went, the classic scenario was that the bulb would briefly light when plugged back in, only to wink out again in a matter of 2 seconds. I've never noticed the strobing or pulsing you describe but maybe that's what happens prior to total failure (the point at which green water grabs my attention).


 I could easily tell the difference between a bulb lit by the stock ballast and a bulb lit by a new ballast. It was much "cleaner" looking.



Emily6 said:


> Because they ship me totally new ballasts every time (actually, they ship me the whole screw-on portion with the plug and all), I suspect the bulb works properly for at least some period of time. But maybe rewiring it would just be easier in the long run compared to wondering at what stage in its ultimate failure I'm in.


When you order the stock replacement ballast, you get the cap and everything. When you use the replacement ballast, you reuse the stock cap and the plug in part. You cut out the rest and toss it.



Emily6 said:


> I'll investigate this further.


Please keep me informed. Your ballast is easy to replace. Two wires from the bulb and two wires to the plug in.


----------



## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

AaronT said:


> What size tank are you running it on and what gph are you running through it? My understanding is that you need quite a lot of exposure to kill pathogens and not nearly as much to kill free floating algae.


Aron is right. He is asking for your flow rate. I posted the following in post #7: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/equipment/83114-coralife-turbo-twist-uv.html#post624472

My 36w UV's flow rates and UVC Energy graph found on the last page of the instruction manual. (uw sec/cm^2 = microwatt-seconds per centimeter square)
45,000 uw sec/cm^2 - 290 gph - Parasites
20,000 uw sec/cm^2 - 680 gph - Algae
10,000 uw sec/cm^2 - 1550 gph - Bacteria

My 36w UV is fed by an Eheim 2028 rated at 277 gph. From the info from the graph you can see that my UV set-up will kill Parasites, Algae and Bacteria because of my flow rates and my UV's UC energy. This UV works with my flow rates.

Your 9w UV's flow rates and UVC Energy graph found on the last page.
45,000 uw sec/cm^2 - 55 gph - Parasites
20,000 uw sec/cm^2 - 121 gph - Algae
10,000 uw sec/cm^2 - 253 gph - Bacteria

I don't know how you have your 9w UV plumbed. This info above will give you an idea of what your UV can do. I read on Aqua Ultrviolet's site that they recommend 30,000 uw sec/cm^2 for a freshwater aquarium.

This is what Aaron is asking about. Approximately how many gph are flowing in through it?


----------



## bosmahe1 (May 14, 2005)

Curious, I was wondering if UVs help with other algaes such as BBA. Thinking that it might kill their spores. I rarely have green water issues but would buy one if it would help with my BBA.


----------



## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

If the flow rate and the UV exposure are such that they will kill anything or whatever you want it to kill that floats by it, .... I just don't know if practically all algae or even which algae are in the free floating form at anytime during their life cycle.

This is why I went with a 36w UV on my 40 breeder. My canister flow is 277gph and the UV's 290 gph kills parasites. Since my filter flow is a little slower than the UV's rating, a lot of things that float buy it should be killed. I have my UV mounted right after my canister filter and before my inline heater and inline needle wheel pump for CO2.


----------



## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

It's a 65 gal. tank. And UV comes between the filter and the heater, in a gently curved line.

Huh I could have sworn that I posted my filter speed but clearly I didn't- it's 265 gph and the UV sterilizer can handle something like 200gph. So I trim the filter down (the hoses have shut-offs). No idea what my speed is EXACTLY. But I don't have green water. I was lax about trimming it down after water changes- so it's being going full tilt lately and even then, no green water.

I don't think it does much for BBA at that speed, as least- I don't have much of it but periodically, I get a few tufts on the upper-most parts of the driftwood.

I have noticed the mercury build-up. That's a helpful clue. New bulbs showing up today. 

Thanks for the info again!


----------



## bosmahe1 (May 14, 2005)

Thanks for the input. The only time I get green water is when I decide to disturb all of the substrate at once. 

Too bad there's no silver bullet for BBA.


----------



## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Emily6 said:


> It's a 65 gal. tank. And UV comes between the filter and the heater, in a gently curved line.
> 
> Huh I could have sworn that I posted my filter speed but clearly I didn't- it's 265 gph and the UV sterilizer can handle something like 200gph. So I trim the filter down (the hoses have shut-offs). No idea what my speed is EXACTLY. But I don't have green water. I was lax about trimming it down after water changes- so it's being going full tilt lately and even then, no green water.
> 
> ...


That UV setup will help keep the water clear and free of haze and green water, but it won't necessarily kill off all parasites and bacteria.


----------



## ObiQuiet (Oct 9, 2009)

Left C said:


> This is why I went with a 36w UV on my 40 breeder. My canister flow is 277gph and the UV's 290 gph kills parasites. Since my filter flow is a little slower than the UV's rating, a lot of things that float buy it should be killed.


True. Another factor that makes this even better is that the free-floating parasites are going through the UV over and over.  The quantified ratings are all (I believe) based on a one-pass kill ratio, like in a water treatment facility. Our 40G tanks with 200+ gph flow rates are going to expose the organisms to a lot more UV over time, and frequently enough that the damage is cumulative.


----------



## oosmkoo (Aug 24, 2011)

Left c would u mind writing up a how to on how to change the stock ballast to the ballast you had mentioned before?


----------



## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

oosmkoo said:


> Left C would u mind writing up a how to on how to change the stock ballast to the ballast you had mentioned before?


Sure, oosmkoo. I'll be glad to. Mine is the 36w Turbo-Twist 12x.

I cut the wires to the stock transformer. Be sure not cut them too short. One side are the wires to the wall socket. The other side goes to the UV bulb. When you cut the wires, be sure to remove the small barrel shaped piece on the wiring going to the cap too. It isn't needed. Throw the stock transformer away properly.

I removed about 2" of the outside insulation on this set of wires. The wires that plug into the wall socket are one black and one white. I trimmed about 1" of the insulation on the black and white wires exposing the copper wire inside.

On the wire coming from the threaded cap, I removed about 2" of the outside insulation. This exposed 4 wires. They are white, brown, black and blue. I trimmed about 1" of the insulation off of each of the 4 wires.

Now I unscrewed the threaded cap that holds the bulb. The 36w bulb used in my UV is a G11 PC (straight pin). Next I removed the bulb from its socket. CAUTION! Be sure to not touch the bulb with your fingers. Use a soft cloth.

After removing the bulb, you will notice that socket is held in place by 2 screws. Unscrew the small doughnut shaped piece that screws into the outside of the cap where the coated wire from the ballast passes through. Now, unscrew the 2 screws that hold the socket in place. Pull the socket out just far enough so that you can see the colors of the wires leading to the socket. Be careful in this step. You don't want to break the connection of the wires to the socket. My socket has white and brown wires on one side of the socket and on the other side, it has black and blue wires. It is important to know which wires are on each side. They work in pairs.

You twist the two red wires from the WorkHorse 3 ballast together. Then you twist the white and brown wires together from the UV's PC wiring harness. Now twist the red, white and brown wires together. Next you twist the yellow wire from the ballast with the blue and black wires from the UV's wiring harness. Then connect the white and black wires from the ballast to the original power cord wires or you can use a grounded power cord. I used wire nuts and black electrical tape for all the connections.

If you are using the 18w version and the ballast is bad, you can use a WorkHorse 2 to fix it or other ballast suggestions by Fulham. Just follow Fulham's wiring directions for their ballasts and connect the UV's wiring harness wires together like I did (twist the white and brown together, then twist the blue and black wires together if the 18w uses these same colors.). Now you have a decent UV sterilizer with a good ballast. Both the 18w and the 36w UV's use G11 PC's. This is why the wiring is similar. The 9w UV versions use G23 PC's (2 pin). The wiring should even be simpler and you can use a WorkHorse 1 ballast or some of Fulham's other recommended ballasts.

To find your Fulham wiring diagram. For these particular PC's use twin. Then use 1x36w, 1x18w or 1x9w. Also use 120v. Now you can find the ballast needed: http://fulham.com/Find_Process.php
UV bulbs (I've never used this brand, BTW): http://americanaquariumproducts.com/UVCReplacementLamp.html

Fulham ballasts work well with PC's. AHSupply has used them for years with their DIY PC kits. If you have ever done an AHSupply PC kit, you know how easy it is.

I hope this helps some people with Coralife UV ballast problems. Aqueon/Coralife has released new versions of their UV sterilizers. They are different. Many of the old versions' parts won't fit on the new versions. I don't know if these are improved versions or not. I haven't read very much about them.

Warning: I am not an electrician. Do this at your own risk. This is working for me. If anyone has anything to add regarding safety or proper procedure, please feel free to do so.

original post is on barrreport.com: http://www.barrreport.com/showthread.php/9156-Left-C-s-40BR-Journal?p=80032#post80032


----------



## corsair75 (Dec 21, 2011)

ObiQuiet said:


> True. Another factor that makes this even better is that the free-floating parasites are going through the UV over and over. The quantified ratings are all (I believe) based on a one-pass kill ratio, like in a water treatment facility. Our 40G tanks with 200+ gph flow rates are going to expose the organisms to a lot more UV over time, and frequently enough that the damage is cumulative.


A UV's flow rates are indeed based on a one pass kill, for pretty good reason. Since the water is constantly mixing in the tank, not every bit of water is necessarily going to end up in the filter every hour, or even every day. There are some nasty looking logarithmic functions to determine roughly how much of your tank is being processed in a given amount of time. Basically, some of the water will go through the UV multiple times, some may not go through at all in, say, a 24 hour window. Even at a high flow rate, math is a tough mistress and it can be difficult to ensure 100% filtration is a semi-open system.

If you are talking about a bacteria or parasite, it probably has some shielding against UV radiation. You have your skin performing a similar function so that you can go outside. The additional contact time is because the shielding takes time to penetrate so that the radiation can scramble the cell. It is true that damage is cumulative. Over a few decades the sun can damage your skin and give you cancer. Most aquarium parasites don't live for decades. Some only live for hours. Taking into account the mathematical troubles of getting ALL the tank water sterilized, you may only get one shot at that microbe before it reproduces.


----------

