Coralife Turbo Twist 6x Sterilizer

Johnny Reefer · #1 03-23-2008, 02:37 AM

Having a problem with my Coralife Turbo Twist 12X 36W UV Sterilizer. It’s not that old. Bought it in early February and set it up in late February, so it’s been running only 4 weeks.

The problem: After doing tank and sump maintenance I plugged the unit back in and shortly thereafter noticed the light was not on. I tried another outlet and it came on, so I assumed it was the extension cord at fault. Went out and bought another extension cord. Plug it in…light comes on…great. Then after about a minute it went off. Tried multiple other extension cords/outlets/powerbars. Same thing. Check the manual’s troubleshooting section…not much help there. Took it apart…checked the bulb…yup, it’s seated properly. Put it back together…plug it in…same thing.

Long story short…the light comes on, but then goes off after about 1 or 2 minutes. I’m thinking it has a faulty transformer,…but maybe it’s the bulb?

Anyone else experience this with their Coralife UV?

Thanx much,

Johnny Reefer · #2 08-05-2008, 06:47 AM

Well, I exchanged the unit (12X) in March and now I'm having problems with the second one. Bulb went out after 5 months, so I went out and bought another. New bulb lasted two days. I have heard recently that power grid brown outs can damage ballasts and maybe this is what is happening here. I really like the design of the Turbo Twist and like the horizontal mounting option. Also like that the inlet and outlet can be offset 90 degrees. This unit is perfect for my system as far as mounting goes. A vertical UV would be a hassle. Therefore, I'm willing to try one more (third one) and this time I'm going to run it off my Noma back-up power supply. But if the third one craps out, that's it...I'm done and will probably go with a Pentair.

Floop70 · #3 08-05-2008, 02:30 PM

I bought a Turbo Twist 3X last march and it's been going strong ever since. Mine is plumbed in-line with my Fluval 204 though, so it's not setup as a HOB.When I first hooked it up I was trying to use kind of odd-ball hose with clamps. Well after about an hour of running one of the hoses came off and started siphoning water out of my tank and onto the floor. I was really lucky I was sitting in the room and was able to stop it right away.... I had literally just walked back in the door from a trip to the store. I fixed my plumbing folly and it's been working fine ever since. ...which reminds me, I should probably have a look inside to make sure it's clean.