Should I buy a UV Sterilizer???? (1 Viewer)

[Jeremyee]

I have a 90 Gallon tank with some coral and fish. I plan on adding more coral after the levels stay consistent. Should I add a uv sterilizer and what are the pros and cons?


Equipment
Neptune Apex - temp, ph, orp, water level (dt, sump, ato tank)
GFO, Carbon filters
15 Gal Sump/refuge w/plants & rock
HOB protein skimmer - pending replacement
ATO System
Daily water change system, 2 Gallons per day - Pending install this week
LED Lights - Cree, Red, Green, White, Royal Blue & UV

 

[inigomontoya]

For a reef tank, this is actually a subject of debate. In a pond or freshwater or even FO tank the consensus seems to be more positive. Definite benefits are algae control, some bacteria control, disputed benefits are ick and other pest control. Check out emperor aquatics website, they are some of the nicest UV's and what several of us have on our tanks. The water flow through the UV to kill pests has to be pretty slow. With ick the pest is not always free floating in the water column but in the rocks so it probably won't even make it through the UV to get zapped and it may go through too fast to be effectively zapped.
Part of the dispute for reef tanks is that UV kills bacteria, all bacteria and we go to a lot of work to build up good bacteria in our systems.

That being said, part of it is what are you trying to accomplish with the UV? If clearer water and some (though limited) protection against bacteria and bugs then yes it can help. Just also got to pony up the money, the cheap units are just that and the nice ones are $$.

 

[flipside]

Well said!

 

[MontroseReef]

No uv if you are seeding good bacteria to eat out nitrate/phosphate.

 

[d2mini]

I thought the good bacteria grows on the walls of our sumps and surfaces of our live rock.
Only stuff that ends up free floating has the chance of passing through the UV, which would be insignificant and not outweigh the benefits of the UV.

 

[flipside]

Concur with that train of thought, Dennis. Only those bacteria which are free flowing pass through the UV and shouldn't negatively impact bacterial growth. However, would I run one during my initial cycle? Probably not...

However, I think Montrosereef is referring to that "bacteria in a bottle" stuff by stating "seeding." I could be wrong and assume too much, though.

 

[Diesel]

I thought the good bacteria grows on the walls of our sumps and surfaces of our live rock.
Only stuff that ends up free floating has the chance of passing through the UV, which would be insignificant and not outweigh the benefits of the UV.

You hit the hammer right on the nail.
As of we do eco-system koi ponds and work a lot with bac's, because of that we use large amount of rock like TONS in a pond to be the home of Bac's.
Even the filter has about 0.25 tons of lava rock and that works good.
We use UV's only to prevent a free floating algae bloom in the spring time but have them running year round.
UV's are good for free floating matter only and as in reef systems only one purpose and that is parasites.
We use to build our on UV lights from either 4" or 6" drain pipe that we plum in on a manifold.

 

[Diesel]

Concur with that train of thought, Dennis. Only those bacteria which are free flowing pass through the UV and shouldn't negatively impact bacterial growth. However, would I run one during my initial cycle? Probably not...

However, I think Montrosereef is referring to that "bacteria in a bottle" stuff by stating "seeding." I could be wrong and assume too much, though.

With cycling you don't run a UV or in most cases even a skimmer.

 

[flipside]

Agreed, man. Though, I have... and I didn't see much of a difference either way.

 

[Jeremyee]

Thanks everyone for all the great advice.

After a bad infestation of ICH I have been looking at all ways to prevent and kill this persistent parasite. After the recommendations from this post and other research I am going to invest the money I would of spent on a UV on my new quarantine tank. Thanks to Petco's $1 a gallon tank sale I picked up a 20 Gallon quarantine tank and plan to integrate it with my Neptune Apex controlling the display tank. Going forward all fish spend 30 days in the quarantine tank before entering the 90 gallon display tank.