UV sterilizer

[Jcj0033]

what are people's opinion on a uv sterilizer ? I was thinking of getting one. What are the pros what are the cons ? Will they help me with algae parasites and keep my water clean and pristine ?

 

[Mr tap water]

Hi there
UVs can be a very controversial subject,
By my own experience of running a UV I found it helped with water clarity which is the only thing I can see a difference in, and I would like to think it helps with free swimming unwanted parasites and fungi problems,
as for the negative side of things ,so I believe it's meant to reduce any good bacteria is that are free swimming but I don't see that a problem as most good bacteria's are either in your Rock or your Sand. So overall I believe it helps to a degree but it is not 100% prevention Against parasites and diseases.

 

[Sniperhank]

Hit the nail on the head. When I usually throw my 2 cents into this discussion, the issue with them comes to the amount of water that needs to pass through them to be effective. I have to use these on the water coming into my home. When you compare them to what are marketed to us in the hobby, there is simply not enough water passing through the UV bulb itself to be effective towards any type of management. It simply breaks down to size and water passing through them. With that said, if there was a way to have an in-line UV bulb, effectiveness would rise greatly due to more water passing through. This would then create other problems, but since no such product exists on a hobby grade level it is a pretty mute point.

 

[Gregcoyote]

The ONLY time I use a UV unit is on the output of my quarantine tank that is plumbed into my main system when it's occupied. The UV unit gets a slow flow rate for a long dwell time and insures no bad organisms get into the main system if a fish arrives ill. For continuous use on a reef tank I gave up on them back in the 80's.

 

[Fish-guy]

I've got a few tangs in my tank. They used to get ich every few months. I've set up a big uv sterilizer. The flow is very slow thru the sterilizer. I've had no ich in at least 2 years. I do think the uv sterilizer helped. My opinion. But many will disagree

 

[Andy Sager]

I agree. A UV's effectiveness is based on how long the exposure to the bulb is. If it's too fast, things get through. Another negative is that the bulbs tend to have a short lifespan ( approx 1 year) and need to be changed or else they just glow with no effect. Lastly, they will only kill what is exposed to the bulb so as previous said, they are not a 100% effective means for guaranteed disease prevention.
That all said, all my marine wholesale installations used them with great success.

 

[fountain7794]

Will a I've sterilizer kill dinoflagellates?

 

[Sniperhank]

No it won't. They will only address things in the water column. Dinos won't be in the water column.