Coralife turbo twist 9 watt

I need some opinions here. I am running a marineland c-360 canister and wanted to add a coralife turbo twist 9 watt. Is this possible and if so does anyone have details or pictures on the install? Things I was wondering....


1. How do I know if the water is traveling through the sterilizer too fast or too slow.

2. Will is effect my filter in anyway?

3. I was going to run it on a timer since its on a reef aquarium, to limit the good bacteria that I kill.

 

UV does not effect the cycle. the bacteria that does the cycle are not "Free floating" , so it is really not possible to kill the "good ones".

Make sure your water flow is correct. Many people use too much water flow. if you want max effect, you need "soak" time. Here are the specs for the turbo twist. the slower the water, the more it will kill.

for the 9 watt...
Parasites: water flow should be a max of 55 gph
algae: water flow should be a max of 121 gph
bacteria: water flow should be a max of 253 gph

for the 18 watt...
Parasites: water flow should be a max of 110 gph
algae: water flow should be a max of 240 gph
bacteria: water flow should be a max of 500 gph

 

How do I regulate the flow and do you recommend a check valve on the canister w/ uv setup?

 

me personally, I run my UV off of it's own pump. You can plumb in a valve to slow down the water, but if it's connected to your filter, then you are filtering less water. If you go with a valve, remember ONLY slow down the water on the output, never restrict the water on the intake side ( some how restricting water on the intakes messes with the pump).

What I did (and it may not be practical for you). I have a "quiet one 1200" pump, takes water out of the tank (or you can take it from a sump if you have one). pumps through an inline heater, from the heater to my UV, then from my UV through a chiller and then from the chiller back into the tank. (I have a central controller for the heat/cooling).

I actually, have (2) of the above setups for my tank (2 - 300 W heaters, 2- 1/10 chillers and 2- 36 watt UV's ). For me, with the amount of pipe, the height etc (all adding to the head pressure) the quiet one 1200's work great.

I went for the slower rate to have a longer soak time ( ie, kill more things).

 

If this is a reef tank, which im assuming it is from your sig, are you running a refuge and if so wont the copes and stuff that occasionaly get swept to the DT get cooked reducing the benefits of having live food flowing from it? i have so much live crap flowing from my Refuge that i only feed my fish and anenomes about once a week.

 

I am building towards a reef and I just added an intank refuge. I bought it and it has all these interesting things inside. I thought it was a natural filtering mechanism not a feeding tool? What exactly does this thing do?

 

it is a natural filtering mechanism however if it is functioning correctly
a bi-product is alot of little critters growing which will fluctuate enough to get swept into the DT or filter sock/canister filter.

just a bonus live food if it can make it to the DT.