ultraviolet sterilizer. Leave on 24/7 or Timer???

[andy2966]

I just set up a UV 36 watt turbo twist on my tank. Does anyone know if you should leave these on 24/7 or put them on a timer or what? Does not say in the instructions or on there website. Thanks for any comments or help.

 

[Catchoftheday]

i would run it with your light cycle . I heard it was bad to run them with light out something about killing good bacteria

 

[andy2966]

Will buy a timer for it tomorrow. Any other opinions or anyone who uses one?

 

[shaginwagon13]

I left mine on 24/7 and never turned it off. I had the outlet water drain into my refiugium which then made its way back to the return pump.

 

[andy2966]

If there is any free swimming parasites in the tank . Don't they come out mainly at night?

 

[andy2966]

any more opinions?

 

[OffDaHook]

I run mine 24/7 as well. I had done lots of reading on UV's Prior to starting to use them and have not heard of many people that had ran them part time. If that is common it is new to me.

 

[MrTuskfish]

If there is any free swimming parasites in the tank . Don't they come out mainly at night?

If you're using UV to control parasites like ich, velvet, etc., it won't do the job. UV is a good water clarifier because it kills algae spores, but that's about it. Ich
offspring emerge from the substrate (mostly at night) and that's where most fish sleep. The new ich parasite finds a fish before the UV can find the ich. UV will kill a few parasites, but is far from being a cure.

 

[andy2966]

Anyone have any problems with ammonia from a UV light Being left on 24/7?

 

[jimmyj7090]

There's plenty of bacteria going around in any marine tank, and that bacteria is quite prolific if you kill a little of it. (in other words, no you don't have to worry about UV hurting your nitrifying bacteria population, it won't cause an ammonia problem)

What do you hope to accomplish by running UV? As MrTuskfish said, UV is not an effective way to deal with ick and other common parisites in most situations. UV will help with water clarity and will be very effective in battling (rare) green water blooms, but it doesn't do much else in most home reef applications.

 

[andy2966]

There's plenty of bacteria going around in any marine tank, and that bacteria is quite prolific if you kill a little of it. (in other words, no you don't have to worry about UV hurting your nitrifying bacteria population, it won't cause an ammonia problem)

What do you hope to accomplish by running UV?

I ran a UV back in the 90's when I first started saltwater and never had to treat the tank for any parasites. Just added my fish straight in from the Local fish stores back then. No QT at all. Tank was set up for over 5 years this way. Seen ich on one fish that I put in the tank and it was gone within a couple of days and never seen again on any of the fish. I kept a lot of fish in that tank with just HOB and canister filter and a wet/dry trickle filter. No skimmers back then Except the old skilter filter. UV keeps the water crystal clear with no algae problems either. Will Always use one after that experience early.