plumbing my UV Sterilizer (1 Viewer)

[cstewart79]

I'm debating how to plumb a UV sterilizer to my tank. Some claim returning to the sump is not effective because it's only treating the sump, which seems off to me. I am considering pulling from sump and returning to display. Who has strong feelings on this based on experience?

 

[frankc]

I have not had a UV sterilizer, so take anything I say with a grain (or bucket) of salt. I agree it does not seem to make sense that returning to the sump is a problem. I have heard some say that pulling from the sump is not the best, because you are just treating the sump and most of the things you want to kill are in the display. That makes more sense to me. I would guess pulling from the display would be best, and where you return the water wouldn't really matter. Or course, if you're drawing from the bottom of the display, I guess you would have to return it to the display, otherwise when the power goes out, it would drain your tank completely. While that would kill all the pathogens, it's probably not a great idea.

 

[Bullitt519]

Mine is running through the return to the main tank. Seems to be preforming fine.

 

[soymilk]

Main tank to main tank is the most effective

If you’re trying to treat for parasites, you want as much tank volume asap. Having the intake in the tank let’s your process the most amount of water in the smallest amount of time. Also parasites might not float to the top for it to drop down to the sump.


Plumbing it sump to sump, takes water from the sump and then reprocesses it multiple times. So a small portion is new unprocessed water, most of it is going to be water that’s already been thru the uv

 

[Reefahholic]

What are you trying to sterilize? If you want it be most the effective for Dino’s Or Ich, plumb both inlet/outlet into the main DT. There’s no doubt it’s less effective if pulling from the sump or plumbed into the sump completely. Dino’s thrive where the light source is so the majority will be in the DT. Same with Ich, they will remain closer to the hosts (fish).

 

[Erin]

Some claim returning to the sump is not effective because it's only treating the sump, which seems off to me

By this logic, skimmers aren't effective either...