UV Sterilizers - Good or Bad?

[Gauge]

I swear the most frustrating part of this hobby is that everyone has a different answer. I hear UV sterilizers are awesome and a must for anyone who is willing to invest the money in the tank, etc. And then I hear that they're terrible, and sterilize the tank too much, etc. THEN I hear that I should only run them part of the time and they're okay.

What's the general concensus here, guys? PLEASE comment, and vote. More info will help me make my decision on whether or not to continue using mine.

 

[Guest]

It used to be looked upon as it would have damaging effects but, in the same breath, there is no conclusive evidence to either way, which makes it a to each his/her own thing for now. Until there is more research done, I think will will continue to be up for debate. I have run mine 24x7 and no problems keeping anything so far.

 

[ReefRaff]

24/7 I use it for if there is any parasites that MIGHT, be in the water colum.

 

[fishfreek]

I ran a UV one one of my tanks. I went to replace the bulb and found it had blown out during that period of time. I then realized I did not need one. THus I put it in storage.

UV's are often misused in the first place with to much water flow thru them. THey do not kill everything in the tank but only items that are in the water column and then only whats exposed to the UV light and the exposure has to be for a period fo time long enough to KILL it.

Its not going to damage your reef if you use one but the benifits can be very negligable in my mind.

 

[troutman11111]

i used to use one 24/7 at first, my nitrates were always .o but in 2 weeks they went up to .10. the green hair alga was not affected like some have said. i now only use it 2days before a new fish or coral and 3days after. in case of a parasite on the fish or coral. maybe i'm lucky but i got hit with ich before i used it twice. 5yrs later using it only before and after livestock are added,have not lost anything do to ich. got to say i believe it does affect the NEEDED BACTERIA in a reef tank. just my experiance in the 5yrs i had mine. 8) can't vote because i use mine different.

 

[Guest]

believe it does affect the NEEDED BACTERIA in a reef tank.

Hmm, this theory has been documented and is false, simply because the needed bacteria that is in the tank is not in the water column and resides on surfaces of the rock , substrate and tank. It wouldn't have gotten rid of your hair algae problem, because it is not designed for that. Hair algae resides on rocks as well as the substrate and therefore is not a water column algae and would not be affected. The fact that you had hair algae in the fist place would tell me that the nitrates and phosphates were slightly high enough to feed it and allow it to grow. I have also tried different things with mine and never saw a nitrate increase. Which I would have to do some research on that one, but I have to disagree with nitrates rising because of a UV light. I just don't want to give users the wrong idea about UV.

 

[troutman11111]

i can't explain it either,but i had yrs of 0 nitrates,till i put this one on. i love my uv and would recomend it . but just like everything else no two tanks are the same.