UV steralizer opinions

[reefiness]

well im not going to say that you are wrong but im going to tell of my experience.
when i had a bad case of ich in my tank i was told a way to get rid of the ich which included a UV sterilizer and the ich hasnt come back. and i have an ich magnet in my tank -blue tang-
what you need to do is make sure that the water is going through the unit at a slow enough pace to kill the ich effectivly. i have free floating debri in my tank because i have a sifting gaby and the water going to my unit doesnt get filtered it simply hang on the back of the display. The only thing that ive heard that the unfiltered water does is creates a film around the quartz sleeve which just means you need to clean it more frequently.
mine has been set up for 6 months and havent cleaned it once and everything is still very good.
havent QT any of my fish and havent had ich since the major out break about 7 months ago when i added the blue hippo

 

[harndog]

This is probably just commercial hoopla but supposidly the coralife unit with the twist prolongs exposer to the uv light and help eliminate some of the problems with turn over on large tanks. I bought one. will it work????? I hope. I use a 230 gph on a 175 tank and placed it in my final section of my sump after all filtration. My hippo has a few spots but is eating great and does not appear to be stressed att. The sailfin is fine. I am a little concerned but think that catching her placing her in a hyp salinity qt tank and then putting her back in a tank that is already infeccted by the parisite would casue more damage than good at this point. Just my thoughts and experience so far. Fish have been in the tank a little over a week.

 

[scubadoo]

Originally Posted by reefiness
well im not going to say that you are wrong but im going to tell of my experience.
when i had a bad case of ich in my tank i was told a way to get rid of the ich which included a UV sterilizer and the ich hasnt come back. and i have an ich magnet in my tank -blue tang-
what you need to do is make sure that the water is going through the unit at a slow enough pace to kill the ich effectivly. i have free floating debri in my tank because i have a sifting gaby and the water going to my unit doesnt get filtered it simply hang on the back of the display. The only thing that ive heard that the unfiltered water does is creates a film around the quartz sleeve which just means you need to clean it more frequently.
mine has been set up for 6 months and havent cleaned it once and everything is still very good.
havent QT any of my fish and havent had ich since the major out break about 7 months ago when i added the blue hippo
Unfiltered water does not allow the UV light to adequately " penetrate". It also will "dirty" the unit internally as you have stated.. if you beleive they are effective, crystal clear water must be "fed" to the unit
If any hobbyists believe they are effective against ich then they should use them.

 

[reefiness]

i have a chart up online right now if you tell me the wattage of UV your looking at ill tell you the maximum GPH you pump feeding the unit can be.
15= 75GPH
25= 100GPH
if you need anything higher let me know

 

[scubadoo]

Originally Posted by Harndog
This is probably just commercial hoopla but supposidly the coralife unit with the twist prolongs exposer to the uv light and help eliminate some of the problems with turn over on large tanks. I bought one. will it work????? I hope. I use a 230 gph on a 175 tank and placed it in my final section of my sump after all filtration. My hippo has a few spots but is eating great and does not appear to be stressed att. The sailfin is fine. I am a little concerned but think that catching her placing her in a hyp salinity qt tank and then putting her back in a tank that is already infeccted by the parisite would casue more damage than good at this point. Just my thoughts and experience so far. Fish have been in the tank a little over a week.
Nothing more than a thrill ride for the parasites IMO. Also, you should place the anmals in QT before introducing to the display tank. This way you can treat outside of the system and reduce the chance of the disease being introduced to the display.
Also, the UV will only denature the floaters./swimmers that pass through the thrill ride (if you are of the belief they work) . Those attached will remain...and the ones holding and hiding in the subtrate and tank decor/live rock will also be surviving. The way most of our systems are set-up is a further hinderance to the UV effectivenss. Only tanks that do not have substrates or decor that are wiped down internally daily and are hooked to a larger central UV have been proven effective against the disease.
Best of luck

 

[ophiura]

The problem in large part is the nature of correlations. Sure, you may have a UV and no ick outbreak. But when you had the ick outbreak, odds are you also made efforts to improve other conditions or minimize stressors.
My only ick outbreak occured recently when I added a coral beauty to a tank with a small Kole tang. Well, the Kole was not pleased with this, nor was the coral beauty. A sixline wrasse really didn't care either way. I rearranged the tank several times, but the rounds of ick and bickering got progressively worse on the tang and the angel...nothing showed up at all on the wrasse. Once I removed the angel, things started getting back to normal. The rounds of ick progressively improved, and that was the end of things.
Had I put a UV on this tank I might say the UV helped. But it is simply a correlation. I agree with Scuba that if you think they work then use one...but be sure it is running right and don't be talked into it as a end all solution to the problem. Poor water quality, overcrowding, and stress still cause issues in tanks. A UV does not allow you to slack off, IMO.

 

[scubadoo]

Originally Posted by jcrim
There's no guarantee that it will kill all of the ich parasite. But there are many people, including myself, that have not had an outbreak since getting the UV. IMO, if you can afford it, it can't hurt.
Not true as it will kill and effectively the beneficial "critters": in a system. Not good for reef systems IMO.

 

[harndog]

By no means have I slacked off do to the uv. The fish was QT at my LFS but my LR came from another source. I did not QT becuase it was the first fish in the system anyway and it seems to me the qt would only stress the fish more since it was already done at my LFS. I may be wrong about this.

 

[scubadoo]

There is another school of thought that fish living long-term in a system filtered by a UV will develop weakened immune system. The theory behind this is that a UV creates a too sterile enviornment. This leads to a "boy in the bubble" symdrome where fish are unable to fight off disease if it is introduced to the system.
I do not beleive this has been widely accepted but it is out there for consideration, research and reading.

 

[scubadoo]

Originally Posted by Harndog
By no means have I slacked off do to the uv. The fish was QT at my LFS but my LR came from another source. I did not QT becuase it was the first fish in the system anyway and it seems to me the qt would only stress the fish more since it was already done at my LFS. I may be wrong about this.
It all depends how long the animals remained in QT and how closely they were monitored.
Also, tangs require mature systems of at least 6 momths or older. Make sure you have plenty water movement and provide them with plenty greens in their diet. You should also include garlic and vitamin soaked foods.
I advise returning the fish since yur system is so young. I assume this based on your statement that these are the first fish in the system.
An appropriate size QT is not stressful on the animals.
JMO

 

[harndog]

The system in young but it is a 175 gal with RO/DI water 20x turnover 150 pounds of LR out of a tank that had been up for 14 years. I treated the LR like a fish acclimated it and everything in my tubs. The Blue tang and sailfin are the only two fish in the system and I asked on her multiple times if this would be ok to introduce them at the same time. Majority says it would be advisable. I do feed garlic and vitamin enriched foods as well as lots of greens she gets fed 3 times a day and I put sheets of seaweed in until her or the sailfin ignore it. They never seem to lol. I have a 75 reef up for over a year and am not a beginner so to say just never had an ich problem with other fish. Thought I was prepaired to try this fish but not so sure now. The watter parmeters are all 0 att As I do weekly 10% water changes since cycle. I think the LR may be the reason she got ich. This is a FOWLR but I do have a lot of nice hitchickers so not really wanting to kill them. Would a cleaner shrimp or two and all the other steps I have taken pull her through?? I believe if I read correctly it is possible for them to get rid of ich with thier own immune system and pull through this type of outbreak am I wrong?

 

[scubadoo]

Originally Posted by Harndog
The system in young but it is a 175 gal with RO/DI water 20x turnover 150 pounds of LR out of a tank that had been up for 14 years. I treated the LR like a fish acclimated it and everything in my tubs. The Blue tang and sailfin are the only two fish in the system and I asked on her multiple times if this would be ok to introduce them at the same time. Majority says it would be advisable. I do feed garlic and vitamin enriched foods as well as lots of greens she gets fed 3 times a day and I put sheets of seaweed in until her or the sailfin ignore it. They never seem to lol. I have a 75 reef up for over a year and am not a beginner so to say just never had an ich problem with other fish. Thought I was prepaired to try this fish but not so sure now. The watter parmeters are all 0 att As I do weekly 10% water changes since cycle. I think the LR may be the reason she got ich. This is a FOWLR but I do have a lot of nice hitchickers so not really wanting to kill them. Would a cleaner shrimp or two and all the other steps I have taken pull her through?? I believe if I read correctly it is possible for them to get rid of ich with thier own immune system and pull through this type of outbreak am I wrong?
The fish probably had the disease when it was added to your system. The chances of the disease entering the system on the live rock is slim.
It is possible for the fish to kick the disease on their own.... but it is risky. Difficult to attach odds but I would say the chances for succcess is less that the chances for failure. Many variables to consider. Also, the disease is now present in your system so any future additions most likely will contract the disease due to stress and other factors new additions face. it is possible for the ich cycle to break with the presence of host fish, but this takes a very long time. This is why many feel once the disease is present it always is there as long as the system has host fish.
I personally disagree with this...but it takes many, many cycles before a system can be free of this disease. To expect a system not to produce an enviornmental condition that will cause a disease outbreak if present is very low for an extended period of time...lets say one year.
The problem with ich is that time is not a luxury you have. The disease can reach critical levels quickly...so waiting to see what happens increases risk for failure and the animal not repsonding to treatment.
I have been in this hobby so many years I simply rely heavily on my experinece as to when to treat versus when not to. I can assure you I have been wrong in the past. I am fortunate not to have any disease in over 6 years....plus only to have lost one fish due to jumping out of the tank...suicide.
All of this is just my opinion.......take it for what it is worth...just one wind bag that rambled too long.