Uv Light Question

[sanababit]

here goes guys

i have a lot of experience on purifing water, ive been manufacturing purifing systems for years, i was reading a thread about using a uv light to kill ich bacteria or germ, as i understand it uv light will kil 99.9% of bacteria, my question is, by creating a habitat that thrives on nitryfing bacteria wont the uv light kill this bacteria that we are trying so hard to cultivate????

if not i will install a light to my aquarium so i can be ich bacteria free, what do you guys think??

 

[Purple Penguins]

Yes it will, you will lose some of your good bacteria with this process but if you run a sterilzer at the right speed it will be minimal, the slower the gph the more you kill

 

[sanababit]

ok lets say i conect it at the return of my fluval 305 canister filter, it gets good flow and water wont have a lot of contact with light, another thing lets say i put a fish with ich into my main tank, will the uv light protect my other fishes while i get the sick one out and treat???

 

[Purple Penguins]

it may help with ich but not sure if enough to make a huge different, I wouldnt suggest putting a fish known to have signs of ich in main tank at all, even with a uv sterilzer, if your water is not going to have alot of contact with the light then Im thinking it may not be worth doing and you may not get the desired effect you want from your sterlizer

 

[cdangel0]

Very little of our beneficial bacteria is in the water column - most grows and stays on the rock, sand, etc. The amount in the water that would be killed would not have any real effect on your tanks stability.

 

[sanababit]

thats what i wanted to hear, uv light here i come, im doing this just in case, thanks guys

sana

 

[greenbean36191]

UV doesn't kill 99.9 percent of bacteria in the water. It doesn't even kill nearly that much of the bacteria that passes through it. Some bacteria like E. coli are easily killed, but even something as simple as several cells sticking together can allow some to pass through unharmed. Other bacteria, including pathogens like Vibrio can take astronomical levels of UV unharmed. Furthermore, it doesn't control ich on recirculating systems.