who uses UV ?

new_world_disor

new_world_disor

Active member
im undecided on getting a UV steriliser. i know there not pricey. but is it worth it at all ??

what are you're views ? and do u use them ?

ad
 
A UV-sterilizer is a prophylactic tool. If it's used correctly, matching the particular UV with the proper pump, it will have some utility in reducing the probability of unwanted algae, parasites and bacterias. However, at the same time, it should be understood that they will only kill what passes through and sufficiently exposed to the killing effect of the bulb. In a marine tank with, presumably, large amounts of live rock and substrate into which and onto which these nuisances can and will be sheelted sheltered, some inevitably will not pass through the UV-sterilizer and so be able to do their mischief. Still, once again, these UVs will to some extent reduce the odds of infection or infestation. Whether it's worth it is really a question of expense, water quality consistency measures, choice of healthy specimens, quarantining, desire to have all conceivable bases covered, etc.

As to whether I use one...to be honest, I do have one and it's not being used right now on either of my marine tanks.
 
the biggest thing to remember with UV is that less flow is better. For a 9 watt unit to kill parasites you only flow 50 GPH. I am using a 24Watt in tank unit that is sold at petsmart for $55 and with the lack of algea and ick outbreaks in a "new" tank I think it is working.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11869663#post11869663 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Avi
A UV-sterilizer is a prophylactic tool. If it's used correctly, matching the particular UV with the proper pump, it will have some utility in reducing the probability of unwanted algae, parasites and bacterias. However, at the same time, it should be understood that they will only kill what passes through and sufficiently exposed to the killing effect of the bulb. In a marine tank with, presumably, large amounts of live rock and substrate into which and onto which these nuisances can and will be sheelted sheltered, some inevitably will not pass through the UV-sterilizer and so be able to do their mischief. Still, once again, these UVs will to some extent reduce the odds of infection or infestation. Whether it's worth it is really a question of expense, water quality consistency measures, choice of healthy specimens, quarantining, desire to have all conceivable bases covered, etc.

As to whether I use one...to be honest, I do have one and it's not being used right now on either of my marine tanks.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup: Well put.

Depending on the placement of the UV, It will be more, or less effective.
If you buy a big enough unit and match the flow rate to kill everything, you could be potentially be able to put it on the return of your sump and kill whatever goes through your filtration.

I use it and love it.
 
i think i will invest in one..
more money :(
i wont get a big enough unit to have it in the return line. i have a rio2500 so it wouldnt work. but i can get hold of pumps of all sorts very cheap !

thanx for all the input guys :)
 
i think i will invest in one..
more money :(
i wont get a big enough unit to have it in the return line. i have a rio2500 so it wouldnt work. but i can get hold of pumps of all sorts very cheap !

thanx for all the input guys :)
 
A guy just through one in on a tank I just purchased. I wasn't sure what to do, but I'm thinking I'm going to keep it now.
 
I've heard a lot of mixed opinions on whether or not UV sterilizers are not beneficial for a reef tank because they kill off beneficial plankton. Have there been any experiments done to show whether or not this is true?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11889327#post11889327 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dp reefer
I've heard a lot of mixed opinions on whether or not UV sterilizers are not beneficial for a reef tank because they kill off beneficial plankton. Have there been any experiments done to show whether or not this is true?
Click to expand...

I doubt that there is any (desirable) plankton per se in a reef aquarium, but have heard the argument that they kill off the beneficial bacteria that is nitrate-consuming and so is beneficial. This, I think, most agree is a very minimal concern since that such bacteria is for the most part not free swimming and once settled in within the live rock and sand proliferates there and so it's not carried along with the water column into the UV-sterilizer to be destroyed by the killing effect of the bulb.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11905161#post11905161 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Avi
I doubt that there is any (desirable) plankton per se in a reef aquarium
Click to expand...

...I thought that copepods and amphipods were great for a reef tank, which are zoo plankton
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11906850#post11906850 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dp reefer
...I thought that copepods and amphipods were great for a reef tank, which are zoo plankton
Click to expand...

they are zooplankton and they are very useful to the tank.
IMO I also removed my uv sterilzer when I added my refugium and two phosban reactors(one is running carbon)
All three of these cost less then a uv sterilizer and are just as effective if not more
If you have a refugium then UV sterilzers are a threat to the future populations of copopods etc.
Although reefers will agree "somewhat" that most copopods will not be killled by UV there is some credibility to the fact the the uv can nuke their chromosomes effecting the viabliity of the culture sustaining a long time---to my knowledge noone has every proved this.
 
Copepods and amphids aren't on the balance free swimming in the water column. If they were, they'd in all likelihood be eaten by fish in the tank before they had a chance to get to the UV-sterilizer. There is, in the oceans, free-swimming planktonic life which would, if it were conceivable to keep them in our reefs without a UV-sterilizer, threatened by a UV-sterilizer if one were employed.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11908892#post11908892 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Avi
Copepods and amphids aren't on the balance free swimming in the water column. If they were, they'd in all likelihood be eaten by fish in the tank before they had a chance to get to the UV-sterilizer. There is, in the oceans, free-swimming planktonic life which would, if it were conceivable to keep them in our reefs without a UV-sterilizer, threatened by a UV-sterilizer if one were employed.
Click to expand...

sorry Avi--can you explain this more--I'm not getting it here;)

"copopods aren't on the balance free swimming":confused:
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11908892#post11908892 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Avi
Copepods and amphids aren't on the balance free swimming in the water column. If they were, they'd in all likelihood be eaten by fish in the tank before they had a chance to get to the UV-sterilizer. There is, in the oceans, free-swimming planktonic life which would, if it were conceivable to keep them in our reefs without a UV-sterilizer, threatened by a UV-sterilizer if one were employed.
Click to expand...

Hmmm these arguments still leave me confused about whether or not to use UV. I chose to go with a refugium and phosban reactor as well but I guess if you planned out the plumbing of your system you could minimize the casualties of copepods and amphipods to UV. I guess all you would have to do is have your fuge run straight into your display so that corals and fish could get to them befor the UV. I think that maintaining a population of zooplankton is possible- I dumped a bottle of tiggerpods in my fuge a few weeks ago and at night if I shine a flashlight in my fuge or display there seem to be quite a few buzzing around. With a proper refugium, IMO it is possible to sustain a population of plankton in your system.

capn: In college oceanography we were taught that "planktonic" means an organism that is unable to swim against or out of ocean currents (even though fish are not plankton, their fry are planktonic because they are carried by ocean currents).
 
What I mean is they aren't out and about in the water column. They aren't swimming with the fish. Copepods and amphipods can be seen on the rockwork and on the substrate...more or less precisely where you see a fish like a Mandarin would be searching for them. Did you ever clean some foam that's in a sump and take a pod that you find on it, and put it into the water of your reef? I'd say that they last about two seconds if you do that before some fish is going to get it just about immediately. They can't survive in the water column in a reef-tank long enough to be taken into an overflow for the most part so that they ever get to a UV-sterilizer or if the sterilizer is hanging on the side of your tank, to the intake to that. Of course, I wouldn't say that there isn't some time that some pods aren't in the water, but most of those are consumed by fish, rather than taken into a UV-sterilizer. Those that make it to the rockwork are the ones that live to multiply if conditions there are right. In short, IMO, you shouldn't be concerned about the pods if you want to use a UV-sterilizer. If you have plenty of live rock...even better a sump/refugium where you grow macro-algae, the UV-sterlizer won't be an obstacle to having enough pods.
 
Last edited:
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11909037#post11909037 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dp reefer
Hmmm these arguments still leave me confused about whether or not to use UV. I chose to go with a refugium and phosban reactor as well but I guess if you planned out the plumbing of your system you could minimize the casualties of copepods and amphipods to UV. I guess all you would have to do is have your fuge run straight into your display so that corals and fish could get to them befor the UV. I think that maintaining a population of zooplankton is possible- I dumped a bottle of tiggerpods in my fuge a few weeks ago and at night if I shine a flashlight in my fuge or display there seem to be quite a few buzzing around. With a proper refugium, IMO it is possible to sustain a population of plankton in your system.

capn: In college oceanography we were taught that "planktonic" means an organism that is unable to swim against or out of ocean currents (even though fish are not plankton, their fry are planktonic because they are carried by ocean currents).
Click to expand...

thanks or the post---
all right I see the point--however copopods etc are going to be carried by the water flow---eventually that water flow will take them to the uv sterilzer
I don't see the difference here whether they are free swimming or not
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

BigEZ77
How Many Days To Run UV When Adding A New Fish?
Replies
3
Views
660
leebca
L
B
UV sterilizer.
Replies
2
Views
655
Batman222b
B
R
some random questions
Replies
1
Views
230
SantaMonica
S
BigEZ77
Urgent Help Requested - Wrasses Won't Come Out - CB Blue Tang Arriving Today (NO QT)
Replies
8
Views
814
rrrrob
rrrrob
Reefing102
Serious Reefs Ad
Replies
3
Views
666
Reefing102
Reefing102
Back
Top