UV Sterilizers

[sherwing2000]

Originally Posted by dadszx7
My u/v's are plumbed in my sumps. They pump from the overflow into the middle section of the sump. I run them with a shut off valve about 1/2 open. The pump would 400 gph. So that would be about 200 gph, to slow it down. I clean the sleeves and everything about every two months. As stated before, with it wide open it doesn't control algae as good. I'm sorry for being misleading in the prior statement. The UV only exterminantes the ick, in the stage when it's moving from fish to fish.......
Can i do this setup: Currently, i have one powerhead in my sump going back to my tank so basicly what i'm goin to do is place another rio 400 in the sump. I will have two powerhead to my sump. the rio 400 will be connected to one end of the UV sterilizer and the other end will be connected to a U tube going back to my sump..so basicly all water going to my sump will be sterilize and return to my tank from the other powerhead. it is just circulating from the sump...

 

[farslayer]

I have an 18W UV on my 125, the brand is Aqua Medic. The flow rate for the UV is between 200 and 400 gph. They are very effective at killing pathogens in the water, but you should still QT to be safe. If you go to Google Scholar and look for UV sterilizers, you will find quite a few research articles about their effectiveness. A while back I did this to find their effectiveness. For E. coli, they were 99.9% effective at eliminating it from water. Our local water treatment plant has a huge UV setup, which is pretty cool cause you can see the pipes from the interstate.

 

[1journeyman]

I think they are useless. They cannot replace a QT tank, and otherwise why would you need it?

 

[farslayer]

Originally Posted by 1journeyman
I think they are useless. They cannot replace a QT tank, and otherwise why would you need it?
You need it to clean pathogens from the water. If you do get an ich outbreak, it is best to keep something to help kill it off from the water column. Hospitals use them in their air systems, water treatment plants use them as well. I have UV in my air system at my house as they can also aid with pet allergens.

 

[ejensen]

There are three ways to do things. The right way, the wrong way and acrylic51's way. You guys are stressing yourselves out.

 

[farslayer]

Originally Posted by ejensen
There are three ways to do things. The right way, the wrong way and acrylic51's way. You guys are stressing yourselves out.
LOL, there are more than three ways to do anything Seriously, you can do things however you want, run them or don't. I've read research articles, peer reviewed BTW, which state the effectiveness of UV sterilization. If you don't believe they are useful, that's fine, but if you don't show a source which backs that belief up, it doesn't really mean much.

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by Farslayer
You need it to clean pathogens from the water. If you do get an ich outbreak, it is best to keep something to help kill it off from the water column. Hospitals use them in their air systems, water treatment plants use them as well. I have UV in my air system at my house as they can also aid with pet allergens.
With a QT tank you won't have pathogens in your tank....

 

[acrylic51]

I still think they are usefull and serve a purpose.....I'm not arguing against quarantining as suggested, but to call the worthless isn't correct.....Some people feel they kill of more good than bad????? :thinking: I highly doubt that.....

 

[jazzyz]

for whatever its worth i wanted to be as natural as possible when i first set up my tank so i didnt include a uvs. 3 months later or so i got ich. i put in a turbo twist and havent had a problem since (many many months now). thats enough evidence for me but im sure like everythign else in life it will work for some people and not others. as far as im concernd ill use one from now on.

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by acrylic51
I still think they are usefull and serve a purpose.....I'm not arguing against quarantining as suggested, but to call the worthless isn't correct.....Some people feel they kill of more good than bad????? :thinking: I highly doubt that.....
Ok, maybe worthless was a bit harsh... :hilarious
Would you settle for highly overrated? Take ich for example. Ich is easy to prevent, yet people seem to think it takes a UV to prevent it.

 

[farslayer]

Originally Posted by 1journeyman
With a QT tank you won't have pathogens in your tank....
Then explain ich in tanks where all animals have been QT'd prior to introduction. Do not underestimate the ability of a pathogen to enter your system. Fish develop popeye, caused by bacteria, in tanks where all animals were QT'd. A UV sterilizer is a proactive, precautionary measure. Viruses, bacteria, etc, can be transferred by way of air, do not assume your tank is immune.

 

[farslayer]

Originally Posted by acrylic51
I still think they are usefull and serve a purpose.....I'm not arguing against quarantining as suggested, but to call the worthless isn't correct.....Some people feel they kill of more good than bad????? :thinking: I highly doubt that.....
I doubt that as well. All UV light does is shred DNA. It doesn't kill anything, only renders it unable to reproduce or function properly.

 

[farslayer]

Originally Posted by 1journeyman
Ok, maybe worthless was a bit harsh... :hilarious
Would you settle for highly overrated? Take ich for example. Ich is easy to prevent, yet people seem to think it takes a UV to prevent it.
While it is perhaps true, it is also easy to prevent AIDS, yet when it strikes, it is deadly. I would rather have something in place to aid in the control of the disease than have nothing at all.

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by Farslayer
Then explain ich in tanks where all animals have been QT'd prior to introduction. Do not underestimate the ability of a pathogen to enter your system. Fish develop popeye, caused by bacteria, in tanks where all animals were QT'd. A UV sterilizer is a proactive, precautionary measure. Viruses, bacteria, etc, can be transferred by way of air, do not assume your tank is immune.
I'm not aware on an instance where ich has appeared in a tank under proper QT.
Ich is a parasite with a known life cycle. Other parasites are similar.
Edit: Let me clarify that. Just because I'm not aware of it certainly doesn't mean it hasn't happened, but I highly suspect it was a mistake on the hobbyist's part rather than ich appearing in a tank.
UV's can kill things (provided flow rate is proper), but they also can miss things. Too often people expect them to do things instead of a proper QT. Truth be told, a QT will do more.

 

[farslayer]

Originally Posted by 1journeyman
I'm not aware on an instance where ich has appeared in a tank under proper QT.
Ich is a parasite with a known life cycle. Other parasites are similar.
My tank.
I QT all fish, typically for about two weeks, yet I had an outbreak about four years ago that took out about half of my tank. Afterwards I have used UV sterilizers to help in prevention. Hopefully I won't need to go through that experience again.
And yes, parasites can be similar. And what is also similar is that these parasites can be effectively eradicated with UV light, provided they pass through the sterilizer of course.

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by Farslayer
...........
I QT all fish, typically for about two weeks, yet I had an outbreak about four years ago that took out about half of my tank. Afterwards I have used UV sterilizers to help in prevention. Hopefully I won't need to go through that experience again.............
.......
In this case, you did not QT long enough. To avoid ich a QT needs to be symptom free for at least 4 weeks.

 

[farslayer]

Originally Posted by 1journeyman
In this case, you did not QT long enough. To avoid ich a QT needs to be symptom free for at least 4 weeks.
The fish was in my display tank for nearly a year when the ich outbreak started, so no, you are not correct.

 

[farslayer]

Actually, I wasn't clear enough. I had a 46G bowfront with eight gobies. I was building up with corals and had not added any fish in right about a year. The first one to show signs of ich was my firefish gobie. After that, it was all downhill. I lost a total of five of my eight gobies in less than 48 hours. Where'd it come from? No clue, only coral had been added, nothing in the month prior.

 

[hatessushi]

If you read my post above it is a pretty good case for using UV and I can prove what I am saying. You can come over and I will show you the difference in my swimming pool although it will take a few days to show you. It works the same way in my fish tank. I removed my UV almost a week ago because I noticed a bit of water in where the bulb is while I was cleaning it. It's under warranty though.
So now that it has been off for about a week there is more algea in the tank. As far as whether it kill ich or any other good or bad parasites of pathogens I really don't care either way. All I know is that it keeps the algea down and that's all I need it for. Anything else is a plus.

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by Farslayer
The fish was in my display tank for nearly a year when the ich outbreak started, so no, you are not correct.
I'm confused so don't take this the wrong way if I'm off the mark.
From what I gather you're saying that you QT for two weeks. Your tank had been established for a year.
What seems to have occured is that at some point you introduced ich. Your fish were healthy and fought it off for x amount of time. Something occured and one or more fish began to get infected. At that point it spread throughout the tank.
Farslayer, I'm not trying to argue with ya, I'm just trying to explain to folks that diseases like ich can be prevented from ever entering a tank. Once there the UV may or may not beat it, but why wait for that to occur? Why not prevent the parasites from entering the tank? Truth be told, once in your tank, unless you remove all verts for 4-6 weeks you can't be 100% sure ich is ever out of your tank. As there is no certainty that the UV is sterilizing all of your water ich may never be truly gone.