UV sterilizers

[irene]

I'm thinking of getting one, hopefully on sale on Boxing day!  I've never used one, but the biggest tank I have is a 75g.  Would the coralife 9w one be enough?  Says it's rated for up to 125g.  What if I got the 18w coralife one, would bad things happen if I used it on a smaller tank?  Is this a good brand to get, any recommendations?

Thanks!

Irene

[audioslave_36]

I have three 13watt ones, one on each of my 120g and one on my 220g tank, I don't think you will do any harm with a larger one than you need. they only destroy the things you don't want in your tank.

[KLKelly]

I love the coralife turbotwist ones but couldn't afford to buy them up here.  What tanks would you be using it on the most.  What are the price on them now?

I don't mean to complicate things for you.  When I was looking - the UV sterilizer it wasn't simple.  Different flow rates kill different things.  I think a slower flow was needed to kill parasites.  Since the coralife uses an external pump this is possible but you would need a way to measure flow.  If your flow is too high you will be killing algae and bacteria.

From this chart a 9 watt probably wouldn't be able to kill parasites.  http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?dept_id=0&siteid=6&acatid=424&aid=440

I bought an all in one uv sterilizer - it was cheap and broke down after three weeks - I bought it when Superpet was liquidating.  It was a 24 watt - way too much flow in the 30 gallon but I wasn't able to lower the flow from the attached powerhead.

I think you should buy it but take your time to research it.  I think plug it in and go - probably wouldn't be ideal - but better than nothing for sure.