UV Sterilisers

[Benny]

Hey all, this is hot topic at the moment, but i have a few queries....

I have just aquired a 350L tank, and want to go about using UV's on it... But wat confuses me is which route to take? The AA 24W internal is VERY tempting and says its suited to 400L tanks...


Whats odd though, is that other branded 24W UV's have a reccomended flow much higher then 400L/hour? And i would like to have greater tank circulation then 400lph... So is buying say the "sunsun 9W" uv steriliser from AOA and a stronger powerhead going to be more effective because it is treating more water in an hour? Or is the internal 24W better becausee its mroe effective in nuking all the nasties in the tank, though it would only turn over the tanks capacity once an hour, or a little bit more?

Also are there any merits in say buying the sun sun, and modding it up with compact fluro ballasts and starters, with a philips tube to make it more effective? (supposing it doesnt run on a ballast and starter already)?

Any advice is greatly appreciated...

Btw, i am working on a budget around the price of the 24W internal..... so yeah, hit me up with reccomendations...

I also ahve 2 canisters running on my tank, a fluval 203 (420lph) and a via aqua 750 (1200lph)

Regards,
Benny

[Merrilyn]

Hi Benny, I run UV on all my tanks and wouldn't be without it these days. I have several different brands, and find them all to be good.

I'm ordering two of those internal UVs from AOA because I'm impressed with the units, and for me, not having to fit them into a cannister filter hose is a bonus.

The flow rate of 400 lph is not a problem in my experience, as you will never zap all the bugs in a tank, no matter what the flow rate. The idea of the UV is to reduce any potential nasties to a level where the immune system of the fish can deal with it. We don't aim to eliminate every bug in the tank.

JMHO. Others may have different ideas.

[Proteus]

with UV, Bigger is Better

15w is the minimum I would use on 350L (preferably 24-36w)