UV Sterilizer

[Fishingpcola]

Who uses UV sterilizers on their reef tanks? Why?

[Matt Dean]

Do a search and you find a hundred opinions on this subject. Some say it's a waste and some think they do more harm than good.

I have had one on the tank since the beginning. Ten months in and I have healthy fish (4 tangs) and corals and no algae problems of any kind - ever.

So, I'm keeping it. I can't say for certain the UV is the reason for my success, but it certainly hasn't hurt.

[reefgeezer]

IMO, UV helps clear the water and can control some bacteria. The flow rate needs to be so slow to kill anything else that it becomes pretty inefficient. There are lots of studies that show the "dosage" required to kill about anything you can name. But when you do the math, other than some gram negative bacteria and microalgae, you would need a huge UV unit to do much good.

[Palting]

I used to. I had a bout of Ich, and the UV was part of the initial attempts at treatment. Finally did the right thing and did hypo on all the fish and left the DT fishless for 8 weeks. I still kept the UV sterilizer for the next several months after that, calibrated the flow to the recommened flow rate for parasites. My rationale was disease control. If you keep the numbers of the bacteria down, the tank and livestock immune system can do the rest. Anyhow, I recently decided it was killing more good stuff, like pods, than it was killing whatever bad stuff there was, and I took the UV sterilizer down. Zoas and softies "seem" to be doing better, and my dragonette and CBA seems fatter.

[stoney1118]

i use a uv, still have tons of pods but my uv is also too small for my water volume. like they said, tons of different opinions on them, i have a buddy that runs a 400w uv on his 435gal display and keeps lots of super nice tangs. he loves the thing and swears by them!

[t4zalews]

I used a 9w turbotwist on my 65g because of ich problems. I kept having fish die because of ich and when I installed the UV my problem magically went away. I do not use it anymore though, all my fish are healthy and ich free. Besides that I found no other real use for it...I would put it back on if my fish ever had ich problems again...but that hasnt happened in 3 years.

[Jerad]

They are very good at killing ich and free floating algae. Free floating algae is algae that clouds the water and doesn't just grow on your rockwork.

If have no free floating algae or ich, it probably isnt worth using.

If you are worried about pods, I have seen it a build thread where someone had the overflows lead directly to a UV unit and then into the sump then the pods cant find their way into the UV unit very easily.

[C-21 USAF]

Used one on my initial set-up for 8 months...took it down for 6 months and now I'm putting it back on and wish I never took it off.

[tkeracer619]

A hobby grade UV WILL NOT KILL ICK in your aquarium. A commercial grade UV WILL NOT KILL ICK in your aquarium. Won't happen. That isn't what they do.

Don't waist your money if that is your goal.

Originally Posted by C-21 USAF

Used one on my initial set-up for 8 months...took it down for 6 months and now I'm putting it back on and wish I never took it off.

Why?

[mcdonaldtj]

Originally Posted by tkeracer619

A hobby grade UV WILL NOT KILL ICK in your aquarium. A commercial grade UV WILL NOT KILL ICK in your aquarium. Won't happen. That isn't what they do.

Don't waist your money if that is your goal.



Why?

So I see someone make a post like this and I have to respond. My experience with using UV is this. My blue tang looked like it was developing ICK (Scratching with light spots) I put the UV on and it looked like things got better, he stopped scratching on the rocks. I didnt see a difference in Algae ( I still had it, so I took off the UV) and then my blue tank started scratching on the sand again. I didnt see any spots on him but he was getting very erratic. I put the UV back on and the next day my tang stopped scratching. no did he have ICK or not I dont know but I am just givign you my observations on my tank. I have never lost a fish to ICK with UV but in my last tank of 2003 I did loose 2 fish to it when I wasnt running it. Just my observations.

V/Tim

[Fishfish0001]

UV won't kill stuff if you have the flow to high. To get the most killing you have to have veryyy slow flow through it, like 30gph. Then you have to consider after awhile the bulb gets a little gunk on it, or wears down.

[syrinx]

There are a lot of holes in the science about UVs- there are also a lot of holes in the experiences people have had with UVs. I believe they are helpful in many cases for a reef tank- and the negatives are few. As far as the ich situation goes- I am not going to tell people that they have had success with UVs that they are wrong. I will say that anyone that says anything 100% definitive about the subject- given all the variables- is dead wrong.

[Toddrtrex]

I haven't lost a fish to ick in about 15 years, and all that time I didn't use an UV sterilizer, so therefore not using one is the only cure for ick.

Given the nature of ick, and how is it only free "swimming" for a very limit time, and the odds of it getting sucked into the pump that is feeding the UV, and having a long enough contact time to actually kill it..... Personally, I would spend my money elsewhere.

[snorvich]

Originally Posted by Toddrtrex

I haven't lost a fish to ick in about 15 years, and all that time I didn't use an UV sterilizer, so therefore not using one is the only cure for ick.

Given the nature of ick, and how is it only free "swimming" for a very limit time, and the odds of it getting sucked into the pump that is feeding the UV, and having a long enough contact time to actually kill it..... Personally, I would spend my money elsewhere.

Todd is right. The only exception would be if multiple tanks share water; under those circumstances UV has value.

[James404]

The only reason I have ever used UV was for water clarifying when I had phyto blooms. I took it off shortly after it cleared the water, I don't believe in the killing ich nonsense. People that see it magically go away after using UV, I would bet the ich just reached the point in its life where it fell off the fish or they fought it off on their own.

[tkeracer619]

Originally Posted by James404

People that see it magically go away after using UV, I would bet the ich just reached the point in its life where it fell off the fish or they fought it off on their own.

Yup

Originally Posted by syrinx

I will say that anyone that says anything 100% definitive about the subject- given all the variables- is dead wrong.

There are no variables that would make my statement false. Even if you had a UV strong enough to kill ick and you had the water slow enough through it to kill the ick. Not all of the ick goes into the UV, not even a significant amount. There is no way of processing all of the ick. Given these reasons I stand by my statement 100% and if you bought a UV to keep ick out of your display than you wasted money that should have been invested in a QT.

Plenty of people have had their fish die from ick while in tanks with UV.

And while were on the topic. The twist in the turbo twist does not increase contact time it reduces it. They should be sued for false advertisement.

[Kbreef]

Hi I spent a lot of time trying to find good information on the pros and cons of UV Sterilizers, proper sizing, factual information on causes and effects, both bilogically and chemically and, whether parisites are killed. The following link is by far the most factual.

I was particularly intrigued on the discussion on the effect of UV in breaking down oxidizers and making the water cleaner to allow the fish to fight off disease.

Pods, and mysis shrimp are simp,y stringer swimmers and will not find themselves in the UV sterlizer in any great quantity.

I hope you find this info informative.

http://www.americanaquariumproducts....ilization.html

[Beamers]

I ran a UV sterilizer in an attempt to keep my tangs healthy. After running it for about a year I took it out and stuck it on the shelf.

I found no real plus to running a UV sterilizer. if you want water clarity, run GAC, if you want to control disease on tangs I find it's 90% stress related and the UV just didn't matter.

[syrinx]

I stand by my comments. I never said UV was a cure for ich, all I said is I wont question peoples success- it doesn`t mean I believe the ich was killed by the UV. I do think that reducing bacterias and other pathogens is a good thing, so I recommend them for some tanks. Sorry racer- if you took offense- I didn`t read your post before I answered the posters question.

[C-21 USAF]

My experience:

I've lost fish w/o UV and not lost anything while using it. And yes, I did remove it after fish got settled and everything was fine.

Never had an algae problem with one and now I'm starting to have one...put my Turbo twist on 5 days ago and I'm literally watching the algae go away (my upgrade to Aqua UV is in the mail).

My water looks even clearer....and I run ROX 0.8 from BRS.

But please don't misconstrue my success w/UV as something you can achieve in your set-up. That's where everyones lines get crossed...you'd literally have to have my tank to replicate my results...your results will vary base on your entire set-up (many variables). It might sound simple but there are MANY ways utilize UV on a reef tank and results will vary based on the method chosen.

[Subie]

Originally Posted by tkeracer619

And while were on the topic. The twist in the turbo twist does not increase contact time it reduces it. They should be sued for false advertisement.

Could you please explain?

My initial thinking is that for a certain cross section of water, it would take longer to go through a 12" UV than it would if the water went on a straight path through it.

[Fishingpcola]

I am wondering if a UV would help with my water clarity. My water has a slight white or haze to it. I have heard that a UV would help and just wanted to validate on RC. What is your experience with UV and water clarity?

[C-21 USAF]

Originally Posted by C-21 USAF

My water looks even clearer....and I run ROX 0.8 from BRS.

[Fishingpcola]

I run ROX .08 from BRS as well and the water still has a tinge of white to it. I am running in a two fishes reactor and I just recieved my BRS reactor and will switch to see if it helps.

[epic.exposures]

I started using a uv filter during my first severe tank algae bloom. The algae went away in less than two days. I DONT run it 24/7in fear that it kills the good bacteria, but i there is an issue approaching. Its the first device in the tank.