Viet'spride70 Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 DO NOT KNOW IF IT HELP..... i have a 9w turbo twister uv light , was gonna set up for fresh tank but nothing happened. i thought about used it for mix reef 120g currently has fish and some zoas and monti frags....would it do any good if i run for few hours/day and maybe get into sps later on... DOES ANY ONE USE UV LIGHT IN THEIR TANK? AND WHAT R U GROWING? TIPS R APPRECIATED...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lamont Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 DO NOT KNOW IF IT HELP..... i have a 9w turbo twister uv light , was gonna set up for fresh tank but nothing happened. i thought about used it for mix reef 120g currently has fish and some zoas and monti frags....would it do any good if i run for few hours/day and maybe get into sps later on... DOES ANY ONE USE UV LIGHT IN THEIR TANK? AND WHAT R U GROWING? TIPS R APPRECIATED...... I thought UV was bad for the corals. I know plants need it, but could be wrong about corals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 I have a large UV on my tank that I run 24 hrs a day, as soon as I turn it off I start getting crazy algae on my glass. I know that it kills beneficial and bad bacteria and there is a debate about wether or not its better or worse to run UV. My corals grow very fast and the colors are great so my vote is yes use the UV constantly. I had a small UV linked to one tank (three tanks total), I had an ich outbreak in 2 tanks on the system but the tank with the UV light inline wasn't effected. After that happened I ordered a large Sterilight UV light rated for 5 GPM and is made of 316 stainless steel. It has an external ballast with day counter, you can even take out and replace the bulb with the water running. I found it on Ebay for around $250, but this is very large UV light, couple of feet long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kkiel02 Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 With the 180 I was very against UV. Since I have so many tangs and plan on alot more for my 360(both tanks are/will be mixed reef) I will be using a large UV. Yes it kills the good and bad but if it helps keep ich down I'm ok with it. Also, coral will still eat dead/dying food much like that which you get from a bottle at the store. lrssix- I think you may be confused as a UV light is in a tube which has water pumped through it. The UV then kills pretty much everything which flows through that tube. It isnt something that you put over the tank like a light fixture. Although corals do get UV from natural sunlight. I have read some threads about people starting to experiment with UV over tanks to see if colors are affected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 I have a large UV on my tank that I run 24 hrs a day, as soon as I turn it off I start getting crazy algae on my glass. . . +1, I usually will run one on a tank while stocking it with fish and turn it off several months after the last fish is added to reduce the heat input to the system. I think it's the best way to deal with cloudy water caused by algae or bacterial blooms. Ongmat what's the flow rate for your 9W sterilizer? I'm inclined to think it might be to small for a 120 gal. I like to do a complete turnover in 1-2 hours at the sterilizers recommended kill rate for Ich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 Good point about the flow rate, every sterilizer has a flow rate and if that flow rate is exceeded the UV light can't kill everything that passes through it making it not work properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viet'spride70 Posted June 5, 2010 Author Share Posted June 5, 2010 I have a large UV on my tank that I run 24 hrs a day, as soon as I turn it off I start getting crazy algae on my glass. . . +1, I usually will run one on a tank while stocking it with fish and turn it off several months after the last fish is added to reduce the heat input to the system. I think it's the best way to deal with cloudy water caused by algae or bacterial blooms. Ongmat what's the flow rate for your 9W sterilizer? I'm inclined to think it might be to small for a 120 gal. I like to do a complete turnover in 1-2 hours at the sterilizers recommended kill rate for Ich. it is a twister 3x flow rate 100-220gph and technically it is rated for 125g tank.....over all, it seems perfectly matched for my tank. assuming to run for a few hrs/day...i know it does help fishy (had it on fresh water before), but not sure about coral....what do u think?.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Rangoon Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 I think it's the best way to deal with cloudy water caused by algae or bacterial blooms. I agree I've got the Turbo Twist 12X (36w) on my 150g and just finally finished hooking it up yesterday. I've got my valved down quite a bit though, and it's the supply to my refugium, which pretty much only trickles. The slower the flow, the more contact time, the better your UV is doing it's thing. Using a quicker / moderate flow rate, and only kicking it on for a few hours a day isn't really going to get you quick or solid results. Restricting it to 100gph tops + running it for your lighting period (or opposite of it) is my suggestion, if you don't want to run it 100% of the time. i know it does help fishy (had it on fresh water before), but not sure about coral....what do u think?.... This is a touchy subject, that is fairly opinionated. In the sense that the UV will really cut back on any possible algae + fish illness you may have in the tank, and it'll keep your water much more crystal clear than any other method - of course it's better for your coral. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 Ongmat, friend of mine has the same UV you have and I was able to look at the manual. I've got to complement Coralife for including a chart with flow rates for this sterilizer. I've seen several manufacters who don't and figuring the proper flow rate through the sterilizer to get the needed kill (exposure) rate is just guesswork. If the Turbo-Twist 3X is going to be used for parasite control at most you want to run just 55 gph through it. Keep in mind this is for a new bulb. Assuming a 30% drop in output over the life of the bulb the flow should probably be dropped down to 35 gph. If this is being used in a 125 gal tank we're looking at least 3 1/2 hours to get a complete turnover through the sterilizer. Probably longer since each hour a certain percentage of the water PROBABLY will have just been recently filtered. Now we're looking at looking at 4 or 5 or maybe even 6 hours the larval parasites are swimming around in the tank with your fish before they get sucked into the sterilizer and get killed. Depending on the health and species of your fish (and number and species of your corals, I've seen parasite problems spontaineously dissapear in reef tanks so I'm sure aggressively feeding corals will do their part to control parasites, just can't always count on it) this may or may not be enough to break the life cycle of the parasite. This explains why in Hydro's 3 tank system only one tank was adequately protected, some of the larval parasites had enough time in the second and third tank to find host fish and continue their life cycle until he set up a bigger sterilizer. I think best results with a sterilizer are achieved when it's sized to give a 100% kill rate with one (or more) turnovers an hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viet'spride70 Posted June 13, 2010 Author Share Posted June 13, 2010 i am so busy lately, donot have time yet...will try this week end....we'll see how it comes out . thank every one for ur inputs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viet'spride70 Posted June 17, 2010 Author Share Posted June 17, 2010 it has been a few days , now i can see the water got improved , i do like my tank now........thank you alls.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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