UV sterilizer

[jtemple42000]

I am going ot be purchasing a uv sterilizer. Any suggestions as to which one I should get. It will be for a 75 gallon reef tank with two triggers and two clowns....

I've looked at the coralife turbo twist, pentair aquastep, and a few others. Not sure which one would be better, and what wattage to get. There are so many choices...

Thanks in advance.
Jim

[jtemple42000]

bump

[DrChaos619]

a reef tank with two triggers? good luck with that! I can't say dont do it because im trying niger triggers in a reef tank simply because they are my favorite fish, but be sure you have triggers that wont tear up your corals like starving lumberjack with a personal vendetta against pancakes.

As far as UV goes, Ozone is the best way to go. If you have a protein skimmer, it could go right into the reaction chamber, and in some cases, its a hell of a lot cheaper.

But if you're bent on getting a UV, IMO they're all the same except for the twist ones. The rule is, the longer the contact period, the more effective it is. So getting a 700 gph pump shooting through a 5 watt UV isn't going to do crapola. Get a 15 to 25 watt twist. You get maximum contact. Only thing is, I'm not sure if they make the twist ones in those wattages. but reguardless, thats the righ wattage i'd go with.

[jtemple42000]

Thanks. I have a male and female blue chin, both for a little more than a month. From what I have read they are widly considered the only reef safe trigger. And as of yet I have had no problems. Thanks again.

[laurentb]

i was about to get one too, but every body sayd (no, not in a reef tank. that will remove the bad and the good stuff too.)
i'll do some more reseach, there is maibe a better way to go.

[jtemple42000]

Sounds like adding ozone is the next step. If I understand some of what I am reading ozone works similar to uv and also helps keep the ph up. So here is a new question that all my reading has created. Is ozone a alternative to a calcium reactor?

[DrChaos619]

@Jtemple42000

Nope. Like Ozone, Calcium in a calc reactor does have PH retaining properties but the purpose isn;'t only to maintain PH. They're used for two different and have diferent purposes.

But if youre thinking about calcium, There are alternatives to having a calc reactor that can be just as good.

[jtemple42000]

what would some of those alternatives be? Dosing?

[Roland Jacques]

25 watt UV min. dont go with a twist unless you pain on flowing 80 GPH. the contact time in those is minimal. they hold a very small amount of water, do the math. buy a flow thru Gamma or arainbow life. Aqua Ultraviolet is the best but you pay for it. even the cheep JEBO 36 watt are far superior than the inner twist tube type IMO.

[DrChaos619]

yep, I dont have a calcium reactor yet but dosing with B-ionic seems to work fine. I'm going to be building a calc reactor soon though simply because I'm tired of dosing and im going LPS dominat im my reef tank soon.

[Roland Jacques]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7766619#post7766619 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jtemple42000
Sounds like adding ozone is the next step. If I understand some of what I am reading ozone works similar to uv and also helps keep the ph up. So here is a new question that all my reading has created. Is ozone a alternative to a calcium reactor?

you need to do a lot more reading. you have a lot of things confussed with each other. dont start buy things until you understand what those things do. you'll save a lot of money.

[jtemple42000]

I understand ozone. Calcium reactors....well I'm getting there. When I first started looking into some of these things they seem to have some similar effects on the system. Thats all.