UV sterilizers and macroalgae growth..

[Reeferon]

I am wondering wether macroalage will grow better with or with out a UV sterilizer.
I imagine that since the water will be clerer with the UV sterilizer, that the algaes will have more light hitting them and this will make them grow faster.
...or will putting a UV sterilizer not make much of a difference.

What do you guys think??

 

[graveyardworm]

I'm not sure that a UV sterilizer will improve the clarity of the water, atleast not a whole lot. What a UV Sterilizer does is essentially kill everything that flows through it. Ozone on the other hand can substantially improve the clarity of your water, as can Activated Carbon. If it were me I would chose the carbon.

 

[Reeferon]

Won't the carbon retard the growth of the macroalgae?

 

[graveyardworm]

I did a little research on the UV sterilizer, apparently they do have the ability to clear the water, but at a price.

Bulb life is short, if flow isnt just right they are virtually useless, kill everything which passes through which can be good for killing parasites, but bad for good critters like pods who get swept through, and requires regular cleaning to maintain the proper flow.

Won't the carbon retard the growth of the macroalgae?

If it was to deplete micronutrients substantially, most which's relationship to macros is poorly understood. Then yes it could potentially affect the growth, but with regular water changes monitoring of macronutrients and dosing of such when necessary your macros will do just fine, and the extra water clarity will far outweigh the loss of some micronutrients.

Sounds like a load of crap so hopefully someone will back me up.

 

[piercho]

GAC is used to reduce coloration of the water caused by DOC. Granular Activated Carbon In The Reef Tank: Fact, Folklore And Its Effectiveness In Removing Gelbstoff â€" Part One Granular Activated Carbon In The Reef Tank: Fact, Folklore And Its Effectiveness In Removing Gelbstoff â€" Part Two
IMU, to use UV to improve clarity of the water, you would need irradiation levels that will break large (coloring) DOC into smaller compounds. This would be a substantially higher irradiation level than required to just kill bacteria and plankton, IMU. This should improve light penetration and might make more DOC available for uptake, keeping overall DOC at lower levels. However, there might be more efficient/cheaper ways to accomplish this goal...

If the main goal is water clarity, my 2 cents is to buy GAC in bulk (buckets) from AES and use a lot and use it often. The AES commercial GAC is similar to the ESV brand IME. Both are lignite derived and appear similar with respect to size and color.