Mariebaby21
New member
I was wondering how many of you think uv light is a necessary piece of equipment and who dont? I'm not sure what brands to look at if I do decide on one. Any thoughts?
maybe purchasing a uv light, thoughts?
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Mariebaby21
New member
single pass as in FO? If that's the case, I do have an FO
My experience has been that UV sterilizers are very effective at killing algae and parasites that are suspended in the water column. My experience has also been that, unlike a FW tank, these aren't issues in a reef tank. Further, UVs can reduce some of the benefits of organic carbon dosing.
My advice: take the money you were going to spend on the UV and use it to buy something that will unequivocally help the tank be it dosing pumps, a Vortech, a controller or some other thing.
My advice: take the money you were going to spend on the UV and use it to buy something that will unequivocally help the tank be it dosing pumps, a Vortech, a controller or some other thing.
dzhuo
Active member
A single pass system is where there is only one path of water passage. All wastewater treatment systems, for example, are single pass to ensure every drop of water pass through filtration or sterilization when the water move from container to container or stage to stage. You can also visualize a typical RO/DI system as single pass. There is only one entry point to the RO/DI and one exit point (discard the waste from your membrane). You can be sure the clean water has passed through the sediment block, carbon, membrane and the DI resin. The water would not be able to escape from another path. In a single pass system, UV is very affective. Unfortunately, a reef tank isn't one of them.
UV isn't new and has been under heavily study in the aquaculture world especially to treat for disease control. In every case under a non single pass system, the effect is very minimal (roughly just 5% effective) even assuming a 100% kill rate (which no hobbyist grade UV is that good to begin with).
fishgate
Active member
I thought UV first came about for SW and then moved to FW. I use it in my FW systems and they do remain crystal clear with no outbreak of disease, ever.
Is there so much more in the water column of a SW tank that you don't want zapped? I have a 15 watt and it removes just about all nuisance algae from the FW tank. I have been thinking of moving this to the SW tank. Will it kill copepods?
If you do get one, go at least 15 watts and get one with a lot of dwell time in the sterilizer. Mine is a 15 watt rated for 400gph but I use a 160gph power head on it to get more dwell time. You will need to replace the bulb typically once a year so check and see what replacement bulbs run. They can be expensive.
Is there so much more in the water column of a SW tank that you don't want zapped? I have a 15 watt and it removes just about all nuisance algae from the FW tank. I have been thinking of moving this to the SW tank. Will it kill copepods?
If you do get one, go at least 15 watts and get one with a lot of dwell time in the sterilizer. Mine is a 15 watt rated for 400gph but I use a 160gph power head on it to get more dwell time. You will need to replace the bulb typically once a year so check and see what replacement bulbs run. They can be expensive.
Exactly. Save your money.
As Dave says, as a water clarifier, they are excellent.
Absolutely. Check out this before/after UV photo. To make one's water clear like this is well worth the $100 price of admission imo.
i got this 15w uv for my 150g tank:
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/15WattUVSterilizer.html
here is lots of info that suggests they are far from "not effective" in a reef system:
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Saltwatersetup.html
Mariebaby21
New member
Thanks everyone 
dzhuo
Active member
You need to look beyond data or info provided by manufacturer or retailer. They will (intentionally) mislead you to believe a piece of equipment is useful when it really isn't.
Pathogen Reduction in Closed Aquaculture Systems by UV Radiation: Fact or Artifact?
If you are interested in more readings:
As for water clarification, there are better options such as carbon which are cheaper and easier to use.
Some of you may have seen my post in the disease section, and some of you probably think I'm foolish for what i'm doing. So far, so good with my 120w uv install. First off, my ich battle has been ongoing for 1yr +. I pulled all my fish out 2x in my reef tank. Had to tear it down, catch all the fish, treat with copper in qt tank, and look at an empty reef tank for 10 weeks the 1st time, and 12 weeks the second time, only to have ich surface both times. Please note, that all fish upon re-entry showed zero visible signs of ich. All were eating, healthy, and fat. After placing them one at a time back in the aquarium over several weeks, ich would resurface. After the 12 week fishless reef, I left all my ich covered fish in the aquarium. I put the UV system in place:uzi:, and slowly but surely all my fish have dropped all visible signs of any parasite or infection. It has been about 2.5 months now. Save your time and keep the posts of how ich will resurface bla bla bla and all that stuff, and how this will never work. It's something that I wanted to try as my two previous attempts were followed to a "t" per directions and feedback from the disease section with disasterous results. If this does not work, I will have no problem stating it on my post in the disease section. Keep everyone posted on results.
Do you have any sources that aren't 30-40 years old? haha
I'm not saying UV is the end all solution; it's another tool in our reef keeping toolbox, that's all. I don't see any reason NOT to use one. They can only help a reef system. Which, again, is far from a waste of money or something people should always skip. UV + Ozone + Carbon + GFO, etc, all have a place.
dzhuo
Active member
I haven't look beyond those and don't have time to read every single one of them. I don't expect the data would be any different either. Scientific experiments are expensive to set up and perform so we don't do them over and over just for fun or to keep it "fresh". This will lead to endless repetition and waste of resource taking away from area where we do need active research.
Suite yourself.
INCEPTION7
New member
See, here's where it gets fuzzy for me.
1) Ozone has proven science behind it. It's a little to dangerous for my liking but at least there's verifiable proof.
2) Carbon obviously works, no one denies that. It's used across medicine, and many other fields to aid in the reduction of harmful toxins.
3) GFO has plenty of science behind it. You can test it and see that it works.
4) UV has no concrete proof that it works for anything other than water clarification in the aquarium. Most people run it and believe that it will sanitize their water of parasites and harmful bacteria yet have no proof it does a thing. Also, there's really no standards in terms of UV bulbs and life expectancy. Who really knows if the bulb you have right now is even doing anything? If I have an ICH outbreak and then buy a UV and it stops does that mean the UV was the reason? Most of what we know and assume about UV is anecdotal with no real science behind it.
The things that UV is effective against are parasites or algae that spend all their time swimming in the water, and even then as previously mentioned the turnover through the UV has to be faster than the critter's reproduction to have any effect. There really aren't a lot of SW problems like that. It's easily demonstrated that UV is absolutely ineffective against ich which spends very little of its life cycle in a state where UV could slow it down. The funny thing is that since ich does live in cycles there are probably a lot of people who see ich in the tank, spend a couple weeks mulling it over and then buy a UV. Surprise surpise the ich is gone soon so they think it must have been the UV but really it was just the natural life cycle of the parasite.
The only application I would recommend a UV for is a freshwater tank with green water.
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