# UV Sterilizer



## spcyamada (May 13, 2005)

I've been fighting a Green Water battle for quite sometime now on one of my tanks and am looking for a good UV sterilizer. I've narrowed it down to three: Tetra 5w mini, Tetra 9w, and Coralife 9w UV. Can anyone recommend a brand and model which would probably be the best price and most effective? Thanks.

Aaron


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## rohape (Feb 7, 2005)

this is the one i have and it works great. the only issue i have with it is mounting. i use velcro straps to hang it from my stand. other than that its awesome and you wont find the wattage for the price any where else.

http://www.thatpetplace.com/Product...on/T1/F62AX+0032+0050/EDP/31941/Itemdy00.aspx

since your running a fluval you will want to buy some of the rubber adapters like whats used to connect the intake and output hoses, to plumb your UVS in with your output.

http://www.thatpetplace.com/Products/KW/fluval/Class//T1/F26EB+0171+1008/EDP/36626/Itemdy00.aspx

View attachment 2696


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## spcyamada (May 13, 2005)

*Green Water*

Thanks Rohape for the suggestion. Have you ever had a GW outbreak? The tank that has the GW outbreak is my 55 gal. It's very dense with that algae. How long do you think it should take for it to clear up with that UV device? I haven't heard of it before and I was wondering how does it compare against Tetra or Coralife one? The equipment review sections lacks discussions about the the two.

Aaron


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## rohape (Feb 7, 2005)

i haven't had "green" water outbreak, but very cloudy water. i have it on my 55 as well. i noticed sparkling water in about 24hrs. the only difference between brands would have to be the contact time design. coralife uses a twist design to increase contact time. the AquaUltraViolet is just straight through, but the increase in wattage i believe would make up for the contact time issue. the other plus with the AquaUV is the price.


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## spcyamada (May 13, 2005)

Thanks again for the suggestion. I came across this post: 
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...227-uv-sterilizers.html?highlight=coralife+UV
and this http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...a-uv-or-turbotwist.html?highlight=coralife+UV
Answered many of my questions for those with similar problems.


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## rohape (Feb 7, 2005)

hmmm, i saw some interesting things in those too. thanks for the links.


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## John P. (Nov 24, 2004)

I use a cheapie Jebo 18 watt. It cleared up the GW that occured in my 26 after I bleach-bombed the tank. It took about 5 days before it was gone. The plants are now very happy.


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## rohape (Feb 7, 2005)

bleach-bomb? what caused you to do this? i just have issues with massive hydra and this film junk all over everything in my tank, any sediment that gets kicked up sticks all over this stuff and just makes everything look horrible. would bleaching hurt my fish or plants, if not, how do you do this?


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## John P. (Nov 24, 2004)

The dreaded Cladophora.

Removed everything I wanted to keep alive (select plants, shrimp, fish), bleached for a few days with everything running ... after stirring the substrate a bunch to mix in the bleach, many water changes, and a bottle of dechlorinator ... my tank was free from Cladophora algae. It's been about 2 months. It's G-O-N-E.


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## spcyamada (May 13, 2005)

*Cladophora*

I have this algae in the tank too besides the GW now. I've tried many different things to try and kill Cladophora, but nothing seems to work. I have noticed that the Cladophora seems to be turning a lighter color porbably due to the GW choking the light. Funny though, some of my plants still pearl even with the pea green water.


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## John P. (Nov 24, 2004)

I don't think there's any way to get rid of Cladophora other than a nuke, unfortunately. I tried everything.


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## rohape (Feb 7, 2005)

John P. said:


> The dreaded Cladophora.
> 
> Removed everything I wanted to keep alive (select plants, shrimp, fish), bleached for a few days with everything running ... after stirring the substrate a bunch to mix in the bleach, many water changes, and a bottle of dechlorinator ... my tank was free from Cladophora algae. It's been about 2 months. It's G-O-N-E.


unfortunately this is not an option right now. 55gal. w/ too many fish, and only a 10gal. hospital tank as a backup. im leaving soon for a few months, so my wife may reduce those numbers while im gone.  then i'll bomb it.
thanks for the issue ID, i've tried all kinds of stuff: less light, more or less of different ferts, removing my DIY CO2 (possible yeast leaching into tank). im currently in the process of extremely slow filter flow to hopefully UV zap everything.



spcyamada said:


> I have this algae in the tank too besides the GW now. I've tried many different things to try and kill Cladophora, but nothing seems to work. I have noticed that the Cladophora seems to be turning a lighter color porbably due to the GW choking the light. Funny though, some of my plants still pearl even with the pea green water.


i have read the just because you have GW dosen't necessarily mean you have something wrong with your water parameters. sometimes GW is more nutrient rich than clear water.


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## spcyamada (May 13, 2005)

Ok, I got my Coralife Turbo Twist 3x UV sterilizer and have a few questions. How do I gauge my flow rate? I have a FLuval 404. Is it as simple as 'throttling' the flow rate on the filter to halfway for half flow? Anyone have ideas? Also, should I leave the lights on while treating with the sterilizer or is better to also do a blackout?


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

No need to do a blackout also. Just run your tank normally, although you may want to add extra traces during the time time the UV is on as I belive it can force the oxidation Fe, I am not positive of that though.

As for flow rate, compare the stated rate of the Fluval to the recommended flow of the UV. I find that filter outputs are alwasymuchless then they state, usually the max flow is based on a newly setup filter with 0' head. A filter you have been using at a 3' of head will have a signifigantly lower flow than stated. In general though, a slower than recommended flow through the UV is better than a faster one.

If you want to get real picky, time how long it takes your filter to fill a gallon jug and multipy out to find your filters flow in GPH. Make sure you do this in the tank so yougat an accurate representation as filling a jug on th efloor would be much faster as the filter does not have to pump the water up. I don't think all that is necessary though, your best guess would be fine.


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

No need to do a blackout also. Just run your tank normally, although you may want to add extra traces during the time time the UV is on as I believe it can force the oxidation of Fe, I am not positive of that though.

As for flow rate, compare the stated rate of the Fluval to the recommended flow of the UV. I find that filter outputs are alwasy much less then they state, usually the max flow is based on a newly setup filter with 0' head. A filter you have been using at a 3' of head will have a signifigantly lower flow than stated. In general though, a slower than recommended flow through the UV is better than a faster one.

If you want to get real picky, time how long it takes your filter to fill a gallon jug and multipy out to find your filters flow in GPH. Make sure you do this in the tank so you get an accurate representation as filling a jug on the floor would be much faster as the filter does not have to pump the water up. I don't think all that is necessary though, your best guess would be fine.

Also, watch your UV if you are using the reducer adapters for 1/2" hose. I found the silly design of the tapered rubber plug had a tendenancy to leak under pressure. Using it with 5/8" is best if you can set it up that way.


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## spcyamada (May 13, 2005)

Thank you for the feedback dennis. I'll just run the lights on with the UV sterilizer on. I was just worried that the GW algae would regenerate itself faster than the UV sterilizer could kill it. I'll make sure to dose iron just in case. Like many of the people with GW problems, I notice that stirring the substrate after a rescape or major replantings triggered my GW. I've never had it in this tank up until the point of the substrate disturbance. I wonder if adding something like Nitraban from Tetra would help?


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

The GW is caused by ammonium in the water. The GW algae uses this as a trigger to increase growth and reproduction, much like a sudden rain in the desert causes plants to suddenly grow and blossom. Nitrosomanos bacteria would not be of much help, you already have a very healthy and happy colony in any established tank. The problem is the bacteria have grown the the perfect size for their general conditions and the sudden spike in NH4, from the substrate disturbance, is greater than the bacteria can maintain below algae detectable levels. Generally the plants and bacteria would have consumed the NH4 spike within a few hours to a day. 

Adding more bacteria would not do much as they would have to adapt and regenerate to their new conditions, the plants and existing bacteria would have dealt with the extra NH4 by the time any bacteria you add would have an effect. The best thing to add if you feel you will have a spike in NH4 would be Prime or other ammonium neutralizing agent. Once the algae blooms, it does not need ammonium to thrive and can consume other sources of N, or out compete the bacteria for NH4. That is why you can't dose or do water changes to control GW and must either let it run its course or resort to UV/diatom filters.


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## SUBORPHAN (Apr 20, 2006)

i am also currently looking to buy a UV sterilizer. so far from my search i am debating between 4 makes: Aqua, Coralife,

Tetratec: http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/fish/technic_and_accessories/uv_c/19505

TMC Vecton: http://www.atlantisaquatics.co.uk/acatalog/vectonuv.html

the bottom two can be found in the UK. the first two cant be found in UK as far as i am aware but it's no problem because i can order them from USA and use an adaptor for electricity conversion.

just wanted to ask which one of the 4 makes would you recommend?


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## spcyamada (May 13, 2005)

SUBORPHAN,

I can't really tell you which brand to get since I've only just now installed the Coralife one. I also looked at those brands you've mentioned. The reason I chose the Coralife was mainly because of the price. I paid 85.99 for the unit including the shipping. Another feature I thought might be good was the way in which the unit had a twist action which allowed a greater UV light/water contact time. I tried adding a review on APC, but it got taken off.


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## spcyamada (May 13, 2005)

*GW gone*

The greenwater is gone! It was gone in three days after I did a water change. It's remained clear ever since. I've used the UV sterilizer in two tanks now, a 55gal and 10gal, with great success. The Coralife turbotwist still gets my vote.

Aaron


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