How many GPH through a UV sterilizer???

[Reefdude5]

I have a 20watt UV sterilizer rated for a maximum of 650gph to use on my 120g Reef. I was wondering if i should really go to the max gph, or if i should do like 400gph or something? I want to break down the toxins produced by allelopathy and dissolved organics, and eliminate crytocarean and such. Any suggestions?

[ReefDoctor]

Well this becomes a flow ratio problem. The book "Aquatic Systems Engineering: Devices and How They Work" by P.R. Escobal., has a great couple of chapters regarding this subject and also has a table of UV kill rate doses for spacific organisms on Pages 33 and 48.
By adjusting your flow rates you will intern effect the time it will take to "sterilize" your tank to any given decimal point of purity. (Since you can NEVER really TOTALLY sterilize your tank.) I suggest looking up the reference to see what you are willing to compramise with regarding your flow rates. You should get better kill rates at lower flow but it will take much longer to get the purity desired overall. I hope this helps.

[Reefdude5]

Thanks Doc, Since i might not be able to get that book any time soon, is there any information that could be put here that might be useful, or a link to a site with similar info?

[wanareef]

As doc mentioned, the slower the flow the more time it has to kill , but in reality it will not kill 100% because of the way it's plumbed. As mentioned you will have to find a happy medium and live w/it.