Best UV sterilizer for 10gallon reeftank

[LydG]

Hello everyone, I recently have been dealing with cloudy water out of the blue. Normally our tank is very clear. We have pretty much narrowed it down to an algae bloom/bacterial bloom of some kind. May have been onset by a dead chalice coral we were trying to revive? I know they say dead fish can cause this problem. Anyways, we have a 10 gallon tank with a pair of clowns, pistol shrimp and goby, and several LPS corals. We are thinking we need to get a UV sterilizer. Does anyone have a recommendation of one that is not super expensive but effective?

 

[Peace River]

Hello everyone, I recently have been dealing with cloudy water out of the blue. Normally our tank is very clear. We have pretty much narrowed it down to an algae bloom/bacterial bloom of some kind. May have been onset by a dead chalice coral we were trying to revive? I know they say dead fish can cause this problem. Anyways, we have a 10 gallon tank with a pair of clowns, pistol shrimp and goby, and several LPS corals. We are thinking we need to get a UV sterilizer. Does anyone have a recommendation of one that is not super expensive but effective?

Welcome to R2R! There are HOB sterilizers available, but IMO I wouldn't go that route. UV is one approach to clarifying the water, but it doesn't fix the underlying issue and they're not inexpensive. To clarify the water in the short term you may want to consider using Chemi Pure Blue (or comparable).

The following questions may help to understand the cause of the bloom -- How long has the tank been set up? What type of filtration are you using? Can you share any of your current water parameters? What type and how deep is your substrate?

 

[Hermie]

If you really want one, I would get the green killing machine 9 watt, which is sufficient for a 10 gallon tank, and a decent brand. You wouldn't even have to run it 24/7, and possibly only until it clears the tank then take it out.

That said, like Peace River said, you are potentially only treating a symptom and not a root problem, but sometimes that's ok, the main issue is you need to be aware at least of what is causing the bloom.

 

[LydG]

Thanks guys, the tank is about 4 months old, it’s the Innovative Marine Nuvo 10 gallon, it’s all in one. We did upgrade the pump to a mighty jet and it gets great flow (our clownfish love it) substrate is about 3 inches deep. Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 20ppm, salinity 1.27, calcium 475, alkalinity 3.0Meq/L 8.4dKH, magnesium 1650. Soo we ended up buying a UV sterilizer because we were freaking out. Our clowns were super lethargic and gasping for air, and none of our cleanup crew were moving at all, all the corals shriveled up. There was also a light layer of diatom alage on the sand. We put in the uv sterilizer yesterday evening and water is clearing up some, diatom is gone, and clowns are back to their crazy happy selves. Corals are still upset. Only thing I can think of was maybe a bacterial bloom from the dead chalice coral? Or the only other thing is that we notice after using reef roids we get a bad diatom alage breakout even though I only spot feed once a week. This is the first time this has happened, and I honestly woke up this morning hoping my clowns were still alive and they were *phew*. But yeah, not really sure what the underlying problem is. My husband said he changed the mechanical filtration completely and added new chemipure blue. Could a lack of mechanical filtration cause an alage bloom?

 

[Peace River]

I'm glad to here the fish are doing better! Do you have any CUC that is churning up the sand? If not, you may reconsider 3" of sand and drop to about an inch (unless their is another specific reason that you took that approach). Good luck!

 

[LydG]

Yeah, the tank is almost perfectly clear today, going to wait until tomorrow to remove the uv sterilizer. We don’t have a good CUC for the sand just blue legged hermits and astra snails, our LFS recommended nassarius snails. So we were gna get some soon. We tried a sand sifter star but was too big for our tank so took him back. The reason we have 3 inches of sand was for our goby/pistol shrimp pair so they have room to burrow.

 

[MikeyD1182]

Hey @LydG which UV Sterilizer did you end up going with for your IM Nuvo 10, I have the IM Atoll 12 Gallon so my back chambers are similar in size.

Thanks in advance

 

[old salt reefer]

IM makes a 9 watt UV sterilizer that fits right into the 1st chamber of the sump. I've got one it works great. Cost is $50.00. Turn your mighty jet down to the slowest flow setting.

 

[MikeyD1182]

I don’t have a mighty one jet, I’m using the sicce micra plus return pump. I also only have 1 inlet chamber so if I put this sterilizer in it then where do I put my media basket with my floss, chemipure blue and my ceramic media block so the water goes through it and not just around or over it?

 

[MikeyD1182]

Oh whoops I thought that was in response to my post I posted today and not the original post 6 months ago.

 

[old salt reefer]

I'm sorry LydG does have a mighty jet pump which is who started this thread. I didn't notice it was a 6 month old thread you brought back to the top.
Someone makes a media basket for the second chamber in a IM 10,14,20 pen. In that chamber you put the filter floss at the bottom, the chemipure above it and the ceramic media block above that. What's in your 2nd chamber right now?

 

[piranhaman00]

Put a 80 watt emperor on that with a 10gph flow.

 

[MikeyD1182]

I'm sorry LydG does have a mighty jet pump which is who started this thread. I didn't notice it was a 6 month old thread you brought back to the top.
Someone makes a media basket for the second chamber in a IM 10,14,20 pen. In that chamber you put the filter floss at the bottom, the chemipure above it and the ceramic media block above that. What's in your 2nd chamber right now?

1st chamber is the media basket 2nd chamber would be for a skimmer and the 3rd is the return pump. I included a picture below.

 

[MikeyD1182]

Put a 80 watt emperor on that with a 10gph flow.

...That can’t be right for a 10 gallon tank

 

[old salt reefer]

1st chamber is the media basket 2nd chamber would be for a skimmer and the 3rd is the return pump. I included a picture below.

That's a lot different sump than the present IM 10,14,20 pen.

 

[piranhaman00]

...That can’t be right for a 10 gallon tank

yes I was joking

 

[MikeyD1182]

That's a lot different sump than the present IM 10,14,20 pen.

It actually looks pretty similar when you look at the specifications. I’m guessing I would have to get the other media caddy tho as the 2nd chamber is bigger, I currently have the IM desktop caddy. Maybe get the mid size caddy or call innovative marine on Monday because the 2nd wall that seperates the 2nd chamber from the 3rd chamber is lower then the rest just like the Nuvo 10. Here’s more pics