I previously wrote about the Algae bloom in my 80 gallon aquarium. On Thursday I received the 18 Watt Turbo-Twist 6X UV Sterilizer and installed it that day. My impression from reading various aquarium forums is the sterilizer would show an immediate result, even clean up the algae in a matter of hours.

I saw no changes in a few hours as I was led to believe. It did do it's job, but it took about four days. I saw the best results after leaving the lights off at night. I suspect it's taken so long becasue flow rate of my canister filter is less than what most people have for a tank my size. Most people seem to run their filters at least 2x the capacity of the tank. Since I have a 80 gallon tank, most people would run a filter capable of at least 160 gallons per hour. I am not most people.

My flow meter read about 100 gph before putting in the sterilizer, it now reads about 90 gph. The low flow is actually good for the sterilizer, the longer the water is exposed to the UV light, the more effective it is at killing the bugs (this sterilizer is rated for 200 - 400 gph). it might also mean that the flow rate is not fast enough to keep up with the algae growth in the light. Not sure on that however, but seems reasonable.

Now that the algae is under control I am only running the sterilizer part of the night and I will slowly ramp down the it's use to maybe once a week or less

Finally the plants had a immediate reaction to the reduction in algae. I could clearly see a increase in growth. The hope is they will start to grow vigorously enough that they are absorbing enough of the nutrients to starve out any algae that might try to take hold.