Cheap UV worth it for quarantine tank?

[jc03]

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with using a cheap uv like this SunSun in qt to make sure nothing gets ich etc? I'm not sure if it would even kill ich or just make the water clearer. Just don't want to spend $100 on something that won't be used a lot.
http://www.amazon.com/Super-UP-23-S...=1436455739&sr=8-4&keywords=sunsun+13+watt+uv

 

[Wryknow]

I had one for a couple of years and it never seemed to make much of a difference one way or the other (in fact mine actually stopped working somewhere along the way and I had no clue that it happened.) Maybe they are helpful to some people in specific situations but I think it's a cost most folks can avoid entirely.

 

[FSUwxman]

I never bought in to the UV craze so I'd say go without one.

 

[slief]

There are many benefits to running a UV filter on a marine system and not really any downsides. Some would argue that the UV kills pods but that's hogwash. If you run it on a closed loop which is the best way to run them, then pod populations will remain relatively unaffected as there is no way that all pods will go through the UV. Or if you down run them at the lowest flow rate/maximum kill rate than the pods will also remain relatively unaffected. I run UV's on all my systems (including my reef) and have done so for many years and wouldn't run a heavily stocked system without one. That said, there have been enough UV related threads here debating the merits so I won't get into the benefits of a UV.

I will however note that a UV is in no way a method of controlling or eliminating parasites such as ich. It can help but it's not an end all be all and won't eradicate the presence of it because of the various stages that parasites go though and also because of the fact that you can never expect all of them to pass though the UV filter. The UV will only impact the stuff that passes through it and the gravity of it's impact is directly related to the flow rate.

That said, on a QT tank a UV certainly can't hurt anything and it can only provide upsides if it's setup properly with the correct flow. There is a caveat though.. A cheap UV is just that.. Cheap and they aren't very efficient at what they claim to do. As such, I think you would be much better served getting a properly sized quality unit such as an Aqua UV or Emperor Aquatics units even if you have to buy it used.

 

[ca1ore]

I have a small UV that is, in principle, part of my QT apparatus. Never actually run it though as it's not been necessary. Since it isn't effective at eradicating pathogens (just in reducing pathogen 'pressure', maybe), any appearance of disease in the QT necessitates the use of medications. So I'm not really sure of the role that the UV is expected to play?

 

[slief]

I have a small UV that is, in principle, part of my QT apparatus. Never actually run it though as it's not been necessary. Since it isn't effective at eradicating pathogens (just in reducing pathogen 'pressure', maybe), any appearance of disease in the QT necessitates the use of medications. So I'm not really sure of the role that the UV is expected to play?

If you are running copper in QT than it certainly isn't going to be useful against parasites and certainly wouldn't serve much purpose for that. If your QT isn't running copper or other meds than it can help with free floating parasites, bacteria and water clarity. Again, not needed but it certainly can't hurt in most cases.

 

[sleepydoc]

+1 to the comments above. You need to decide what your goals are first - water quality or disease treatment.

UV lights work to reduce the load of organisms in the water, but don't eliminate them and don't replace the need to treat them with other methods.

 

[zachfishman]

Might not be worth it considering a lot of medications are not compatible with UV. My go to meds are copper (Cupramine) and chloroquine, neither of which can be exposed to UV. The UV on our QT system at work has been off since day 1...

 

[slief]

Might not be worth it considering a lot of medications are not compatible with UV. My go to meds are copper (Cupramine) and chloroquine, neither of which can be exposed to UV. The UV on our QT system at work has been off since day 1...

That is a good point. UV changes the copper ions from negative to positive if memory serves me and that can be deadly for the fish.