Placement of uv steralizer
 

Hi, I'm setting up a bigger tank system, and have a uv sterilizer and was wondering where the best location for it is. Should it be on the line from the main tank to the sump or the line from the sump to the main tank?

I think it depends on the uv sterilizer's rated gph.
You cannot exceed the gph it is rated for and so it might need its own pump and lines.
I would place it to go sump to tank or pull out of one side of tank exit to other side

The UV should be preceded by some sort of mechanical filtration, so your drain line (main tank --> sump) is probably a bad location for it. Your return line will likely exceed the maximum flow rate for the UV. I'd tee off of your return line and place a nice true union ball valve before the UV to reduce flow.

Try and keep your flow slow through the sterilizer as more dwell time and exposure to the uv light is best, as mentioned teeing off your return with a ball valve dump tee works well. I run a separate low gph pump in my sump to operate my reactors and uv. As long as you are putting your system water through a sterilizer I don't think it matters where you put it.

What is the purpose of the UV sterilizer? Ich or algae? Ich requires a much longer exposure to UV than algae does in order to kill it. Refer to the user manual to figure out the flow speed. I agree that T off the return line is your best bet.

I have mine running on it's own pump. It's after the socks and dumping back to the socks - just to filter out anything it kills
If I recall correctly, I'm running my 10 watt at about 225gph

Run your outlet into a bucket to determine your flow rate

Don't know if you need this info, but here you go;
For Algae control 40-50gph/watt is fine
For General Sterilization 20-25gph/watt
For Sterilization of many Bacteria and Viruses 10gph/watt

As Mindy said, check your manual. It should have a min/max flow rating

Just my sarcastic opinion and joking. But best placement for that is in the garbage:lol:

All kidding aside, there's no harm using a UV Sterilizer on a Reef tank IF it's used correctly - as in not over-sterilizing the tank and killing off all the beneficial pods etc

It's good to have one for algae control, and to take care of those stray things that may be floating around the system

I've had no adverse effects running mine and have been using it for 2 years

I've considered removing it, but I like the fact that it keeps my chiller circuit clean of 'whatever'