UV or Not UV?

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garychef1

Guest
I was thinking about getting a UV sterilizer in my tank. I have a 4 foot 55 gallon tank with 65 lbs of LR and i have 16 various corals and 2 percs, a six line, a foxface, and a diamond goby. I first put water in a year ago and ran my tank with some LR and LS in it but no fish due to some money problems but have had fish for 4 months and corals for about 2. My parameters are very good as well. I was wondering if i should or even need one, if i can get one. I am actually not sure what they do exactly except kill bad bacteria and stuff. will it kill parasites? I am having a possible ick problem and was wondering if that may help as well. Please post all of your thought on UV sterilizers.
 
mx mr bean

mx mr bean

Member
i totally reccomend them but i got one because i was having major problems with the color of my water. it was green and the algae would cover my glass. i had to scrub the glass like twice a day. but once i threw on the uv sterilizer the water became crystal clear in a mere 4 days. and yes they kill parasites and all the bad little microscopic critters. but they will kill some benefitial bacteria. but because the majority of good bacteria is in the sand and on your live rock, the amount that the uv sterilizer kills doesnt really affect anything. in the end there much more beneficial. now with ick the uv sterilizer isnt a substitute in getting rid of ick but it will help control it a bit. the trick is to quarintine fish before putting them into your tank. big mistake i did. eventually i plan to quarintine all my live stock for a few weeks. finally if u use a uv sterilizer ur gonna need a protein skimmer to pull out all the dead organisms. if u decide to get one check out the turbo twist series by coralife.
 
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garychef1

Guest
yes, i have a protein skimmer, Thanks for your help. Anyone else have an experience they would like to share?
 
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garychef1

Guest
i have a 4 foot 55 reef tank with 60 lbs of live rock and 50 lbs live sand. My filter is qualified for 75 gallon tanks. What UV sterilizer should i get?
 
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garychef1

Guest
thanks, looks great! thanks for your help so much! 1 question is if i need another pump. My filter is out of room. I have the pump going to the tank, and my 2 reactor pumps in there. Those pumps are all after the wet dry filter. Could i stick it in the part where the water comes in? in the place where it has not been filtered yet
 
al mc

al mc

Active Member
No problem with using the existing pump as long as the water moves thru at the proper gph ratring of the UV sterilizer you purchase. Too fast means too little contact time withe the UV light and poor performance/.results.
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
UV units work and they do kill parasites, but there are few big thigns to remember...
First, they will only kill parasites if the water flow through them is very low, something to the order of 5gph/watt, so if you have a 18 watt unit, no more than about 90-100gph. People often install them directly on the main return line from their filter, which results in very little other than wasted money.
Second, they are non-discretionary killers. They will kill everything that passes through them. Viruses, bad bacteria, parasites, good bacteria, pods, etc. Beware of the trade off here.
Third and possibly most important, don't overestimate them. Many people think they are miracle units or they will take the place of water changes, overcrowding, etc. They do nothing of the sort. They enhance water quality but do not make up for poor maintenance and the bad things that result from poor maintenance, such as algae blooms, etc.
 
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garychef1

Guest
so, i want a 9 watt corallife turbo twist. Do i run a 45 gph pump constantly? My LFS guy said to run it for 1 day a week or when you add a living thing into the tank. And UV sterilizers also kill pods? Will it kill all of them? I was planning on getting a blenny and my LFS said a 1 year old tank would have enough pods. My tank has been fully set up and running for about 5 months.
 
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