UV Sterilizer. Good or Bad?

[zum14]

So I was reading one of my magazines again here today and came across an article that was about the world of UV sterilization. Basically seemed a bit one sided but admitted the one downside of UV being that it kills Phytoplankton and such. His argument for that is that our tanks are constantly producing more so the effects are minimal. The water clarifying and reduction of waterborne disease kind of outweighs it. Now after reading and pondering I did some searching and didn't really turn much up so I figured i'd ask. So Im wondering who's running UV? What wattage and flowrates are you running? What are you trying to achieve from UV sterilization?

[globaldesigns]

I can't really select a voting option.

UV can be beneficial, but in saying that it can also hurt a system.

Beneficial could be if you have ICH, or if you have alot of algae in your water column. Then UV can help to remove this

BUT....

Detrimental is when you are using Zeovit, or any other bacteria based system to create a ULNS (Ultra Low Nutrient System), then you cannot use UV, as it will kill this system.

So it will all depend on what you are going to do with your tank.

[abcha0s]

Originally Posted by globaldesigns

I can't really select a voting option.

UV can be beneficial, but in saying that it can also hurt a system.

Beneficial could be if you have ICH, or if you have alot of algae in your water column. Then UV can help to remove this

BUT....

Detrimental is when you are using Zeovit, or any other bacteria based system to create a ULNS (Ultra Low Nutrient System), then you cannot use UV, as it will kill this system.

So it will all depend on what you are going to do with your tank.

I don't have any information on UV when running Zeo, so I won't comment on that.

I am interested in UV/Ozone when running bio-pellets. It does seem that the majority recommend against it, but I'm not convinced that it is bad. The idea with bio-pellets is that the bacteria live on the pellets and are then sloughed off and skimmed out of your system. Other than the initial startup of the bio-pellets, I'm not sure what the benefit would be with having live bacteria throughout your system. As I understand it, the beneficial bacteria that we need for the nitrogen cycle don't generally colonize the water column. I believe there are examples of people using both UV/Ozone and bio-pellets successfully, but don't have any quick referrences.

Thoughts?

- Brad

[zum14]

Hmm. Should of put an other tab. Interesting though.

[StirCrazy]

I ran UV on my 90 for about 4 or 5 years. not saying you need one but I will not run a tank with out one most likely.

my tank was pretty much self feeding, I only gave the tang a treat of nori once or twice a month. the two mandrin which I had for 4 years till I gave them away found all there pods and such in the rock work, so if UV killed off food I never experianced it. and I had a larger than recomended UV on my tank.

Steve

[Jack]

Your poll is missing so many applications or reasons for using a uv sterilizer. I have used them in both reef and fish only aquariums and from my experiance they do help increase water clarity and reduce ich. I have also used them to get rid of bacterial or green water blooms in other aquaria. In my opinion they aren't needed but nice to have. They only have one real downside in a reef tank in that they kill plankton but in my opinion, after scubadiving and seeing just how clear the water is and realizing there's not a whole lot in there anyways, you can't go wrong using uv in a reef. Our corals don't need phyto in an aquarium to survive - they find other ways of feeding like fish waste and food juices etc. I think people stoped feeding DT's phytoplankton 10yrs ago. I can't believe that company still exsists.

[zum14]

Originally Posted by Jack

Your poll is missing so many applications or reasons for using a uv sterilizer. I have used them in both reef and fish only aquariums and from my experiance they do help increase water clarity and reduce ich. I have also used them to get rid of bacterial or green water blooms in other aquaria. In my opinion they aren't needed but nice to have. They only have one real downside in a reef tank in that they kill plankton but in my opinion, after scubadiving and seeing just how clear the water is and realizing there's not a whole lot in there anyways, you can't go wrong using uv in a reef. Our corals don't need phyto in an aquarium to survive - they find other ways of feeding like fish waste and food juices etc. I think people stoped feeding DT's phytoplankton 10yrs ago. I can't believe that company still exsists.

Again should of put an other tab. The thread is here for extra comments though. Thanks for the input.

[cwatkins]

I run bio-pellets and zeo (AA + Coral Vit) and also run UV 24/7 in my sump. If I had extra space on my controller's power bar, I would run my UV off of it so that it only came on part of the day.

I do dose Zeo during my feeding cycle while the return is off.

Sometimes I'll unplug the UV for a few days or so.

I know I do have Ick in the tank as one of my tangs and a mandarin have shown spots before. I've never had a full outbreak.

I am seeing the benefits of Zeo and Biopellets. I assume due to the lack illness in my fish, the UV along with my regement of supplements (garlic and selcon) are keeping them healthy.

[Bblinks]

I also run pellets and zeo. UV is on 24/7, I always thought it is the flow rate that killed certain things like bacteria or photoplankton... I set my with a flow rate to around 300 gph so it kills ick parasite.