Caution: Coralife Turbo-Twist UV Sterilizer internal rust?

[navychief]

Hello everyone:

I wanted to share a potentially reef damaging discovery I made after taking apart my UV sterilizer for cleaning. I'd like to know if anyone else who owns this model has made a similar discovery?

After taking the main body housing apart from the top, I found what appears to be rust with the housing's reflective surface. See pic...:thumbdown

It appears that the reflective sleeve within the housing has rusted. This unit is right at a year old. I'm planning to contact Coralife.

If it is rust, then maybe that will explain why I've been battling some unknown problem with my corals not completely opening. This is something I've been battling for quite some time.

Chief out.

 

[ElementalJ]

Caution: Coralife Turbo-Twist UV Sterilizer internal rust?

You didn't have any stray current in the tank? Looks to me like the sleeve was leaking Into the light fixture.

 

[navychief]

You didn't have any stray current in the tank? Looks to me like the sleeve was leaking Into the light fixture.

Nope. No known stray currents. I will say that when I got it, I looked inside the housing (while assembling) and wondered how the mfg was able to get the nice, reflective surface (metallic looking) not to react to salt water. I believe there's a coating on the reflective surface...or was a coating that was eventually breached allowing the salt to do its thing.

 

[ElementalJ]

Wow. Definitely talking note since I've used that very same sterilizer in the past. Never had an issue.


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[ElementalJ]

And you've contacted them as In today? I can't wait to see what they say. I've contacted manufacturers in the past for all sorts of things. Some respond some do not. Dependent on who is handling things. [emoji53]


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[navychief]

And you've contacted them as In today? I can't wait to see what they say. I've contacted manufacturers in the past for all sorts of things. Some respond some do not. Dependent on who is handling things. [emoji53]


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Sent them an email with picture. I'll let ya know what they say. In the mean time, I hope people in the hobby are aware if they own one of these.

 

[ElementalJ]

Thanks for the heads up! [emoji106]

 

[ReefCowboy]

Thanks for the heads up. Rust is one of those things that makes you pull all your hair from the head, not knowing what the hell is going on, and corals start doing bad/dying

 

[GimpyFin]

I used a Coralife turbo twist briefly a few years ago and yes they start to rust after about 3-4 months of use in saltwater. The plastic they use on the UV housing can break down with UV light, so they put a metal sleeve inside to help (Cheap construction.) Coralife will tell you it is fine since GFO (Rust) is often used in aquariums as a filter medium. Want a good UV? Get an Aqua UV classic instead, they are way better, IMO.

 

[navychief]

Update: No response from Coralife on the UV light rusting. So with that, I'm not really inclined to purchase anything from them again.

Chief out

 

[irishmarine]

Just came across the same issue

Do NOt buy from Coralife! They know of the issue and never did a recall costing thousands in lost livestock

 

[Raptor72]

I dealt with them regarding this issue back in 2015. They were fully aware of it, stated that they had no intention of updating their product and that they could send me a new one. I have one that I'm using right now only because it was given to me but I'll be planning to call them again at the first sign of rust.

Ok, now it's starting to be an obsession

 

[Raptor72]

Funny how we were just talking about this last month. Mine made a popping noise the other day and sure enough, the water had made its way into the bulb chamber.

I called them up and they are sending me out a new shiny turd [emoji849]. Don't ever buy this product, it's a waste of money. They are aware of the issues and have no plans to redesign their product, their words, not mine. [emoji2955]

 

[tkeracer619]

They're junk to begin with. These issues have been seen on and off since they came out.