UV Sterilizer????

[apdonato95]

I was wondering if how many of you guys use UV Sterilizer. Is it a must have thing or something that we read? My friend does not use UV and his tank is doing good for 5 years and still running. I just want to know before I invest on this equipment coz this are not cheap.

 

[Roy G. Biv]

Plenty dont use it. Personally I do. I dont leave it on all the time, just when I feel the water needs a little freshening up

 

[DarthSimon]

I have a 40 Watt on my 220 and did have an Ich problem... It cleared it up after about a month, but did take some time. It's for sure is not a cure for ich... It does help reduce the populations....

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13375982#post13375982 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DarthSimon
I have a 40 Watt on my 220 and did have an Ich problem... It cleared it up after about a month, but did take some time. It's for sure is not a cure for ich... It does help reduce the populations....

IMO you have to realize the limitations of UV sterilzers in the actuall amount of the water column they process--which is very limited.
They do have the rep of reducing algae and some bacteria but to rely on them soley would be a mistake IMO but at the same time they have some use to us.

I agree---UV is not a cure for ich
There are three commonly accepted cures for ich--all invovle the use of a quarantine tank
Hyposalination
Copper base treatments
Series of Complete Tank turn overs.

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13375848#post13375848 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pmolan
Plenty dont use it. Personally I do. I dont leave it on all the time, just when I feel the water needs a little freshening up

You would probably get better results running phosban and carbon in reactors

 

[Avi]

I agree with the Captain. UV-sterilizers aren't a sure thing at all for parasites since in order to kill parasites..or anything else, for that matter, like algae, it has to pass through the sterilizer and in a reef, there are so many places for the parasites to be sheltered before they attach to a fish, that lots are not "zapped" by the sterilizer before they can do their damage. And, you must match the pump that operates the UV-sterilizer very carefully so that the water doesn't pass through the sterilzer too fast for the exposure to the bulb to kill the unwanted organism.

Still, I have one on my FOWLR for an extra amount of "security" since I don't quarantine and it does offer limited prevention. This means, I guess, that IMO, the investment is worth it but there are no guarantees. To this, I'll add only that since I put the sterilizer on my FOWLR, I haven't had any ich problems which I had before.

 

[spw4949]

I use one because I had it from a long time ago, if I didn't have it, after talking to everyone and getting started back up, I wouldn't have bought one.

 

[secrest]

I have never used one. UV sterilizers will kill all bacteria, not just the bad ones. I'm not a fan of that.

There are a lot of other cures out there for ich, I would look more into those.

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13376219#post13376219 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by secrest
I have never used one. UV sterilizers will kill all bacteria, not just the bad ones. I'm not a fan of that.

There are a lot of other cures out there for ich, I would look more into those.

Secrest-the useful bacteria---aerobic,anerobic and anoxic are not water born so they will not be removed by any filtering process.
As far as other bacteria and inverts--the amt of water actually in contact with a UV sterilizer will have minimum impact by them.

 

[apdonato95]

thanks for all that reply.