Recommend a UV sterilizer for my unique application

LobsterOfJustice

LobsterOfJustice

Recovering Detritophobe
Hey all,

I am in the market for a UV sterilizer and would like to know which brands/features are good and which to avoid. Here's the catch - I'm not running it on my tank.

There is a local university aquaculture facility which gives away free filtered seawater. They run it through a sandbed filter and a UV sterilizer. However, I would just like to be extra safe and run a sterilizer on my water storage container as well. Better safe than sorry, and this way I have a little more control over the water going into my pride and joy.

My water change tank is a 30g breeder aquarium. It would be nice if the sterilizer could HOB of this. I run two powerheads for circulation in there anyway, it should be easy to hook the output of one up to some tubing to feed the UV.

I know nothing about UV as far as ratings, wattages, and flow rates go. I am not worried about killing large things like isopods etc - there is nothing visible to the eye in the water. However I am worried about parasite larvae, bacteria, etc. Money IS an object, but I have maybe $200 budgeted for this if I need it (it will save me that much in salt in a few months).

So can someone point me in the right direction?
 
I would go to Orcshelin or Menards or whatever you have there, and get yourself a poly container with a twist off cap and a bulkhead in the bottom ~50gal. And use the 30br for another fuge, or a seahorse tank, and link it to the rest of the system :)

As for the UV, the only ones I've ever liked are the Coralife Turbo Twist UV's, and the Rainbow Life Guard units. The Life Guard Units aren't exactly HOB though, but IMO they are the best of the best when it comes to UV.

I think the Turbo Twists are well designed, compact, have good fittings and nozzles, and are quite versatile. And I got an 18watt 6x Turbo Twist on ebay for $15. and it works fine!!!

Good luck,
Andy
 
Look at the Aqua Ultraviolets. They can be easily configured for hang-on with 3/4" pvc. They have some hang-on models that I think work with flex tubing too. You would probably only need 8w or 15w and could connect it with a MJ400 or MJ600, even a MJ900. I think their web-site has a chart showing recommended flow rates for what you are trying to kill.
 
The best value UVs are 25 watts and up, id recommend the 25 lifeguard for overall best bang for buck. AUV are a bit more $$ but use the "same" Lamp. that said it is probably more than you need. but you would NOT have to run it continuously to get a good kill. Id probably only run it 72 hours before you need the water in your storage tank.
 
You have the perfect opportunity to run the UV as a single pass setup like they're intended to be used. Don't hang it on the back or bother running it as a recirculating system. Tests have never been able to show that UV can control pathogens on recirculating systems.

I assume that you pick up the water in a trashcan or some other container and then pump it to the 30 gal and then pump it from the 30 gal to the main tank. The sterilizer should be plumbed either in between the 30 and the main tank or between the trashcan and the 30. It only needs to be turned on when you're transferring water between tanks. Not only does it reduce the amount of maintenance required for the unit, but it actually uses it in an application where they've been proven to work.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12319840#post12319840 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by greenbean36191
You have the perfect opportunity to run the UV as a single pass setup like they're intended to be used. Don't hang it on the back or bother running it as a recirculating system. Tests have never been able to show that UV can control pathogens on recirculating systems.

I assume that you pick up the water in a trashcan or some other container and then pump it to the 30 gal and then pump it from the 30 gal to the main tank. The sterilizer should be plumbed either in between the 30 and the main tank or between the trashcan and the 30. It only needs to be turned on when you're transferring water between tanks. Not only does it reduce the amount of maintenance required for the unit, but it actually uses it in an application where they've been proven to work.
Click to expand...

I have the water change tank set up so that I can drain it into the sump by opening a ball valve. So I could put it there. I guess the benefit of running it like this is that no water can bypass the unit? It seems less efficient though because the water only goes through it once instead of circulating through it countless times if it ran constantly for a few days.
 
It seems less efficient though because the water only goes through it once instead of circulating through it countless times if it ran constantly for a few days.
Click to expand...
It's much more efficient actually and I can assure you that it's how the water was already treated by UNCW. There is no need to pass the water through more than once. By setting it up as a single-pass setup you maintain a very high, constant kill rate (usually close to 100%) and ensure that 100% of the water has passed through. With a recirculating system you get diminishing returns over time and you can never get 100% of the pathogens to pass through. Here's a paper that compares the efficiency of the two methods and has a bit of a review of the effectiveness of recirculating systems at the end.
http://www.int-res.com/articles/meps/6/m006p295.pdf
 
Makes sense.

And I guess I can run the water as slow as I want through it, so I can get a low wattage unit and save some money. I'm thinking I will get a 9w or 10w unit and after the unit reduce the tubing to the size of RODI tubing to slow the flow rate down.
 
It is seawater, not RODI, so the TDS is irrelevant. However, I ran some of the basic tests on it and once correcting to 1.025 (it is about 1.030 out of the spigot) I got the following numbers:

Ca - 350
Alk - 5.6
Mg - 1100
No3 - 0
PO4 - 0

Needs some CaCl and baking soda added to it, but thats no big deal.

I should say I have been using this water successfully on my girlfriend's nanocube with fish and soft corals. I have no particular reason to suspect it is "bad" and that I should UV sterilize it, but I just feel safer knowing I am in control of what goes into my tank.
 
Last edited:
A few notes…

Sterilizers are one of those things that if they break or leak, you’ve got a mess, so don’t buy a cheapo model. I’ve heard Emperor UV sterilizers are the industry standard, but they’re priced high $. The only experience I have is with a 25 W AQUA sterilizer. It was easy to hook up and use but that’s all I can offer regarding UV manufacturers in general.

Assuming you won’t require rapid transfer from one vat to the next, I think you can go lower than a 25 W unit regardless of whether you want to set it up as a ‘one pass’ system (Scheme A in the article mentioned by greenbean) or a recirculating system (Scheme B). You will be able to regulate flow through the unit by ‘T-ing off’ the powerhead, so 8W or 15 W is more than adequate.

It sounds like you’re planning to treat a fairly small volume of water and I’m wondering whether you can just use heat to kill pathogens instead of buying a UV unit. A bit more work to correct the salinity if there are evaporative losses, but heaters are much cheaper than UV! That said I don’t know what temp would be required or for how long you would have to maintain the high temp.

Lastly, if you get a UV unit, consider hooking it up so that it could be used both to treat the free seawater (Scheme A or B) and the water in your quarantine tank (Scheme B) :thumbsup:
 
Lobster, being that I am located in Wilmington as well I was wondering where do you actually get the water from. Is it at UNCW or the facility just before the WB bridge?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

BigEZ77
How Many Days To Run UV When Adding A New Fish?
Replies
3
Views
669
leebca
L
B
UV sterilizer.
Replies
2
Views
656
Batman222b
B
G
Icecap UV Sterilizer 27w
Replies
2
Views
1K
Reefing102
Reefing102
S
Toxic paint /epoxy removal from reef rock?
Replies
2
Views
570
Reefing102
Reefing102
U
Goniopora
Replies
3
Views
170
Uncle99
Uncle99
Back
Top