UV Sterilizer
- Thread starter quakstar
- Start date
farslayer
Active Member
UV sterilizers are a great tool to combat parasites, bacteria, viruses, and free-floating algaes which cause green tank syndrome. They are in no way a tool to treat disease, only a tool to prevent the spread of disease. They also do not take the place of proper QT methods and do not eliminate the need to care for sick fish thru isolation and medicine/hypo.
However, with that being said, UV sterilization will eliminate 99.9% of all pathogens which pass thru the light. It is important to not exceed the flow rate of the specific sterilizer you purchase, as exposure time to the UV is important. Hospitals use UV sterilizers in their air systems (I also have them in my air system at my house) and water treatment plants use them to eliminate E. coli from water.
It is true that even beneficial bacteria in your tank will be killed, but since the majority of this lives in your sand and on your rocks, it really doesn't matter. It can also zap the occasional copepod, but again, negligible. I run an Aqua Medic 18W sterilizer 24/7 on my reef; I have over 60 types of corals and have been doing this for at least six years with a sterilizer and have never had a single problem.
Are they absolutely required? Debatable. Fish always carry ich, so a bout of stress could lead to an outbreak. They way I look at it is that if the worst case scenario happens, I want to have as many tools at my disposal as possible. I'm also putting in a jellyfish tank here in the next coupla months and I will be installing a UV sterilizer to combat hydroids.
However, with that being said, UV sterilization will eliminate 99.9% of all pathogens which pass thru the light. It is important to not exceed the flow rate of the specific sterilizer you purchase, as exposure time to the UV is important. Hospitals use UV sterilizers in their air systems (I also have them in my air system at my house) and water treatment plants use them to eliminate E. coli from water.
It is true that even beneficial bacteria in your tank will be killed, but since the majority of this lives in your sand and on your rocks, it really doesn't matter. It can also zap the occasional copepod, but again, negligible. I run an Aqua Medic 18W sterilizer 24/7 on my reef; I have over 60 types of corals and have been doing this for at least six years with a sterilizer and have never had a single problem.
Are they absolutely required? Debatable. Fish always carry ich, so a bout of stress could lead to an outbreak. They way I look at it is that if the worst case scenario happens, I want to have as many tools at my disposal as possible. I'm also putting in a jellyfish tank here in the next coupla months and I will be installing a UV sterilizer to combat hydroids.
farslayer
Active Member
Don't skimp on the sterilizer if you want a seriously clean tank
For my money, the Aqua Medic brand seem to be very good, easy to replace the bulb, good flow rates, great results overall. If you get a cheap sterilizer, you get a cheap product that just doesn't produce good results. Also, oversize the sterilizer. If the one you want says it's good for up to 90 gallons, go with the next size up. The 18W I have is overkill, but as I've said, it's not the 99% of the time you don't have parasites in the water that the sterilizer is used for, it's that 1% of the time you could have them.
farslayer
Active Member
Also, while on the subject, placement of the sterilizer is important. You want the sterilizer's inputs/outputs on opposite ends of the tank. This way, you'll bring water in from say the right side of the tank, it will be sterilized, then dropped out on the left side of the tank. Some systems I've seen actually have multiple sterilizers on opposite sides of the tank. A local fellow has a 4,000G shark tank which has 10 UV sterilizers, 5 on each side, each can be independently shut off through the plumbing if need be. He's got four white tipped sharks in there I believe, sweet setup.