uv sterilizer good or bad?

[davidh]

Just wondering a few months ago i had all my fish die off as i bought a flame angle from a new shop i usually hadnt been too. Because everything died i was thinking would it have been different if i had a uv going? thank you all!

[glampka]

Good possibility that if you had the UV the outcome may have been different depending on what the COD was. UV is definitely a good thing.

[coral reefer]

I have heard many good things with regards to UV sterilizers though I honestly can say I have never had one!

[Twan013]

ok, apparently, i don't know the purpose of a UV sterilizer... first time i had ever heard of one, i was at the LFS, and was asking the guy about RO water, and he was just like "no, use regular tap water for the initial setup (filling the aquarium for the first time), and then after that, use distilled water and a UV sterilizer"... or something like that, its been a while, so i don't remember the exact conversation... in a way i trusted him, because i've done a lot of business there, and all of his fish/corals/inverts seems very healthy and happy... but at the same time it left me with so much of a "what?!?" attitude that i just left it alone for the time being... but i did use tapwater the first time, and everything turned out reasonably ok... i'm sure it could have been better, but i went through a normal cycle with my liverock, and didn't have any problems until last month (broke foot, couldn't come home, long story)... anyway, lot of evaporation, ammonia spike, and some dieoff... it was a month that i couldn't even come home to tend to the aquarium... so here i am, starting pretty much from scratch (still good looking liverock, and still a couple of fish and hermit crabs) as soon as i can, i'm gonna buy a bunch of distilled water and fill my tank back up, and use distilled from now until i see it feasible to install an RO/DI unit (no, you can't buy RO water from around here, i've already looked).... wow, what a change of subject... anyway, WHAT"S THE PURPOSE OF A UV STERILIZER???

[glampka]

A UV sterilizer will kill off any & all micro organisms that pass in front of the high intensity light. It does not act like a RO/DI filter nor is it intended to. Don't use tap water. It will only lead to other problems down the road. I just bought a unit from www.airwaterice.com Products and answers for your water treatment needs. called the MightyMite. Reasonably priced @ $99

[fishflyer]

For me UV has been one of the variables in keeping nuisance algae at bay. It will not kill ich though. Or I should say it will kill ich but it will not remove it from the tank completly.

[Abaco24]

Will a UV kill good algae on live rock and coral?

[Abaco24]

Just found my own answer I think, please give feedback

Ozone and UV: Ozone is a highly reactive form of Oxygen. Ozone generators for aquariums use electricity to produce ozone, which is then fed into the aquarium via silicone airline. Sometimes they are run in-line with an aquarium airpump. The application of ozone in the aquarium is two-fold. Primarily it is used for its ability to quickly and effectively breakdown organic matter and other contaminants to improve water quality and clarity, secondly, it destroys many water-bourn disease causing agents. Where ozone is applied it is usually done so by being injected into protein skimming in place of or as well as air. Ozone provides even greater skimming efficiency in protein skimmers, as well as providing the benefits mentioned above. Even where protein skimming is not used, ozone is always applied in a separate reaction chamber. This is because at too high a concentration ozone is toxic to fish and invertebrates. A common fear when using ozone is this toxicity and so it is often recommended to filter the water through activated carbon to remove excess ozone before it is returned to the aquarium. However, since ozone is highly reactive, it is extremely rare that significant amounts will remain in the water being returned to the tank, and toxicity is therefore hardly ever a real issue. Though if you are unsure, filtering the water through carbon certainly doesn't hurt. Ozone will cause rubber items such as suction caps and O-rings to perish more quickly so it is usually best to keep the Ozone-reactor or ozonised protein skimmer away or down-stream from canister filtration to avoid excessive wear on canister O-rings.

Ultraviolet (UV) sterilisers use UV-C radiation to destroy disease causing agents, suspended algaes and algal spores. UV radiation also accelerates breakdown of organic compounds to further improve water quality. UV sterilisation is particularly effective at killing off disease-causing agents such as bacterias and parasites, including marine whitespot. However, it should be noted that using UV sterilization does not completely eliminate the chance of disease as it cannot kill off organisms that are living on the fish. UV sterilization will also kill off desirable bacteria and micro-organisms, although, it kills only what passes through the unit so beneficial bacterias that are established in the tank and filtration are not affected. However, UV sterilization should be turned off when adding liquid cultures of good bacteria so as not to harm these while they are in suspension. UV radiation also decomposes some medications, so it is best to turn UV sterilisers off if medicating. Inside the UV steriliser, water is passed through a narrow quartz sleeve surrounding a UV-C bulb or tube. These units can be run from some types of filtration (eg canisters) but often a separate pump is used. The percentage of disease organisms killed will be greater the slower the flow-rate through the unit so it is often recommended to use a slow flow rate. However, a greater flowrate means water is circulated through the unit more often, and with each pass more organisms are killed, so overall effectiveness may actually be increased. The most important aspect is to get a suitably powered model for the size aquarium. Where UV sterilisation is run in-line with filtration it should always be on the outlet so that good bacteria have least chance of being affected. This also delivers clean water to the unit which improves its efficiency.

[Twan013]

bit of an old thread, but it made me remember something... about the LFS that i had mentioned before... they don't use skimmers... in their biggest tank (their display tank that they don't sell anything out of) they just have a UV sterilizer and i think an aquaclear powerfilter...

anyway, one thing i've learned about UV, which i don't think has been mentioned yet... yes, it kills bad algae, parasites, etc. etc... but also kills the good stuff that some filter-feeder inverts need to stay alive... i suppose if you had FOWLR, then yeah, UV would be awesome! same way for a skimmer, i think... some people don't like skimmers because it removes a lot of the stuff that some things like to eat... i think clams would fall into this category... even though they have the photosynthetic zooxanthelae something or other (i've never taken the time to memorize the correct spelling, much less pronunciation), they're also filter feeders

just something to consider when deciding whether or not you want UV...

[Tangster]

Ozone if the way to go.. U/V bulbs decline with in 6 weeks .. A good ozone generator will last yrs with worry free operation..