UV Light Question

[JM5]

We have just bought a UV light for our 110 reef tank......Should we run the UV light all the time? Or just so many hours a day?

 

[triggers]

It only does good if you run it all the time. Not sure about the size of pump you should have but don't have one that pumps to fast because it won't be able to kill any parasites and don't have a pump that pumps slow because it will kill everything including the beneficial bacteria.

Hope this helps.

 

[Guest]

The UV light will not kill everything, and it will not kill your beneficial bacteria. The beneficial bacteria colonizes on the rocks, substrate and glass of the tank.. There is little or no bacteria beneficial worth worrying if it goes through the light or not...

UV lights are designed to be on 24 x 7. This is why there is no switch on them. Simply plug in the ballast and let it run... Some choose to place them on timers, but I find this to be useless IMO.

The slower the flow, the better.. I would suggest no more than 120 Gph through 8 to 15 watt and 200 Gph through 24 to 36 watt. This will give you the greatest amount of protection...

UV lights kill single cell organisms and some of the Copepod Larvae that may pass through it.. This is highly effective for some algaes, and parasites such as ICH... They do not stand a chance when they pass through the UV...

Remember that something has to pass by the light to be affected. So, no beneficial bacteria will pass through it, simply because it is attached to the surfaces of the tank and the aquascape...

 

[triggers]

Not all UV are positioned at the surface of the tank. I personally do not use them anymore. Myself and other hobbyists put them in the sumps so its not cluttering up the tank.

>and parasites such as ICH... They do not stand a chance when they pass >through the UV...

This I do not agree with. If the parasites are passed through the sterilizer to quickly it will not kill the parasite, I know this through my terrible experience with the UV sterilizer. That is one of the reasons why I quite using one. After I changed the pump, I came to the problem of it being to slow, and my Ammonia started to spike. It killed all the organisms, bacteria, and everything that was bad and good for my tank, and it pretty much meant I had to recycle my tank.

however this is my experience, maybe I should have placed it at the surface.

Now with my fish only tank I just keep a low dose of copper, this keeps the parasites away, since I have done this I have not had one fish get sick.[/quote]

 

[Guest]

Now with my fish only tank I just keep a low dose of copper,

IMO This is not good practice.. as copper builds up over time and is poison. UV will not poison the water..

As I stated before in my post, the recommended flow rates, the UV can be and is to a lot of people, beneficial. There are those who are against them.

 

[triggers]

Im sorry I have never heard of copper turning to poison. Can you explain how this happens? I ask only because I have never had this happen. A friend of mine has been in this hobby for 17 years and he is the one who told me about having a low amount of copper to prevent parasites and he has never had the copper turn to poison.

To clarify I don't put the amount of copper that some people use to treat parasites, but just enough for the copper to read when I test it. Maybe this is why I have never seen or heard of copper turning to poison.

 

[triggers]

Im sorry what I really meant to say is I have never heard of copper turning in to poison if it is just a low dose of copper. Of course if you have a lot of copper it can poison the fish. I only put one small dose and thats all, I don't dose again, because of the fear of to much. With the amount that I add there is no worry of poisoning.