turbo twist UV....

[Devaji108]

Hello all
I am thinking about putting a UV on my new tank.
I know that some of you out there don't like the UV idea, however I will be keeping serval tangs includind a hippo (with is pron to ich)
so has any one had any experance with the turbo twist UVs they say that a 36 watt unit can handle up to 500G!!!
I have a 240G should I get two of these ( I have two pumps) or just one???
any input one these or any other UVs would be great!
thanks
Deva

 

[artful-dodger]

I have one twister that I've never hooked up to a tank, so I can't give a recommendation one way or the other. However, you may want to either run it off of a separate (smaller) pump or tee off of one of your bigger pumps. Water really needs to move slowly through any UV filter to be effective--dwell time is key to efficacy.

 

[healyjs]

Just got my 18 Watt Twist

Just got my 18 Watt Twist

I just received my 18 watt Turbo Twist from Marine Depot($119 or $129). I just got it via UPS Thursday and opened the box. Installing it will be this weekends project. It seems simple enough. The instructions reflect the same advice as artful-dodger gave, the slower the water flow through the unit, the more productive the unit. I bought a small pump with about 140 gph capacity specifically for the Twist. After that it is just water in, water out. I think if I plug one more thing in under my tank, I'm going to have to turn off half the lights in my house to compensate for the electical draw.

I bought on advice from the guys at Sherman Tank. I had 4 of my long term fish bite the dust in the course of 5 days 2 weeks ago. Just the big guys of course, not the $3 green cromis or the other smaller guys. I saved my Yellow Tang, but lost 2 clowns, a blue Tang and a Butterfly. I think I introduced Ich to the tank with a newbie Sailfin. Turned out he did his damage and left. My Yellow Tang gave him such a hard time I only kept him in the tank overnight.

Once I get the water back in line and make sure whatever killed the fish is done reeking havoc in my tank, I'll add some more replacements. The ones that survived will have to sit it out in the tank. I ended up pulling my entire reef apart trying to catch and transfer the small fish, I gave up. Nature is going to have to determine if they survive.

This whole thing has definitely changed my opinion about weather a QT is worth the hassleââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦It is! I hoping that the UV sterilizer will help maintain the water quality if something else slips in.

I must have missed the downside to a UV. What's that about?

 

[artful-dodger]

the concern usually voiced is that pods and other, smaller critters growing in your fuge will be zapped on their way through the UV and not survive.

I figure that you aren't piping all of your return flow through the UV, for starters, and that even if they're dead they'll still get eaten.

Regarding the electrical:

 

["Umm fish?"]

The argument about the the downside of UV is that by killing things (and that's what UV is doing) with the light you kill good things along with the bad.

There is a beautiful quote from K. that I have to search all over the place to find everytime the subject comes up. I've really got to bookmark this:

Are UV steralizers detramental to a Reef Tank?

It depends how much UV (or Ã"šÃ‚µWs/cm2) is being dosed by your unit. For example, these are the sample dosages necessary to kill the following:

Bacteria = 15,000 Ã"šÃ‚µWs/cm2
Algae = 22,000 Ã"šÃ‚µWs/cm2
Protozoan (Ich) = 45,000Ã"šÃ‚µWs/cm2
Phytoplankton (5-40nm) = 90,000 Ã"šÃ‚µWs/cm2
Zooplankton (100-500nm) = 200,000 Ã"šÃ‚µWs/cm2

If you are dosing anything over 90,000Ã"šÃ‚µWs/cm2, then you are likely killing alot of benefitial organisms in the water column causing adverse side effects like excess ammonia, nitrate, etc and stripping the tank out its natural food sources.

If you are dosing less than 15,000Ã"šÃ‚µWs/cm2m, all you are doing is wasting electricity since such low exposure wont sterilize anything.

A UV is only "benefitial" to a reef if its running at about 50,000Ã"šÃ‚µWs/cm2. At this dosage, you are killing bacteria, algea and protozoans keeping your tank disease free and crystal clear but not affecting natural levels of phyto or zooplankton in the water column.

K.

So, you've got to really think about your unit and how much water you're pumping through. Too much water flow does nothing for you. Too little flow kills all the live fish and coral food from your refugium.

 

[vanmo92]

i love mine. no downsides.

 

[boggins]

Just my humble opinion, but also to consider.....

The UV unit will only "work on" the items which flow thru it. If we examine the life cycle of Ich, it lives mainly in the rock, substrate, sand, crushed coral, etc... of the tank.

Ich will find a host, feed for a while, fall off, go down into the substrate, reproduce, hatch, find a host to feed, etc..... I think it is entirely possible for a tank to be going thru Ich cycles with a UV running.... especially if the UV unit is hooked up to a skimmer....

I am in the boat of.... "It may help, but I think it is far from being a "cure all". There's just too many variables involved.