Haven't posted in a long time, so hello to all. Now, I ordered a coralife turbo-twist 6x for my 225 gallon tank. It says it works up to 250 gallons. So it arrived today and I open my box and got sent the 12x model for up to 500 gallon tank. And I go back to see what I was charged for and it was for the 6x model. So yay me! Now is this overkill? I was going to use a 250gph pump for the 6x now should I buy a bigger pump or still good with the original one I was going to use since my tank is only 225 gallons. Thank you!
Will this Coralife UV sterilizer work?
- Thread starter kiko81
- Start date
Crooked Reef
Active member
What are you trying to accomplish with UV? Some people have a huge misunderstanding on what they are capable of and there is debate on if they are useful or not.
Just to have a cleaner tank. Try to stop any bad algae growth. Hopefully prevent any bacterial infections that can happen. I read up so much on the UV discussion. Some say it's not needed some say needed. The UV discussion is as split as this country is politically. Haha. But I said why not give it a try. I clean my tank, take care of it like I should but anything that can help prevent a infection or nuisance algae is welcomed.
ChronicReefH2o
New member
UV are so misleading, in order for a UV to be useful, you would need to run as low and slow water flow through them.
Dmorty217
Saltwater Addict
The UV will work just fine for your tank and will not be overkill. It will accomplish little more than keeping the water clear and helping with algae blooms (not really that much though) If you are looking for something to help control disease then the model you describe won't do it
slow is for parasites and stuff, itll nuke algae and so forth with faster speeds. I run my 36W sterilizer after my denitrate reactor i built which keeps my nitrates at 0-10ppm depending on how much i feed, and the flow coming out of it is about 40gph.. which is pretty slow.
In my 135g discus fresh water tank, i have the same 36w UV on it and it goes after my 2217 eheim canister, and flow on it is maybe 70-90gph ?I forgot exactly.
But yea regardless youre right.. I would hook that UV up to something with very low flow rate. Basically the perfect flow rate for proper UV exposure to kill parasites i read is turning your tank over 1x an hour. But you need the proper sized UV for that.. So for a 250g tank you would need something like 50 watts or more
rjjr1963
New member
Generally a UV should be sized based on the total gallons of water. 1 watt for 2 gallons of water. My UV is running at 180 gph. Not all UV's are the same even if the wattage is the same. BRS sells one of the best UV's "Smart UV" but they are very expensive. A 25w on my 40b knocked out all my dinos in just a few days.
lapin
New member
Welcome back
Keep the same pump. Its not overkill. If for some reason you find it works too well run it for a short period each day. Remember it will heat the water as it passes thru.
