To U.V. or not to U.V.
 

ohla all,

am thinking about putting a U.V. sterillizer in my upcoming Reef tank.

figure That If I put it on a timer to turn off for three hours after the phytoplankton is added that it should still be of benefit to the filter feeders.

However I'm concerned that U.V. might mutate some of the proteins and amino acids essential for the development of corals.

any one 'ave any expertise????



at your mercy

Sean. :rolleyes:

I ran UV for a while, nothing I noticed mutated. Many reefers use it, although many think that if you need to use it, you're doing something wrong. What is the purpose of your implementation?

I've seen lots of great setups without them. IMO, they are more harmfull than beneficial. I was going to buy one myself at one point, but my research on the matter dissueded me. If you are just getting started, I would recommend priority on a good skimmer, lighting, and circulation above all else. Rich.

I personally haven't used one but would like to try one out someday just for kicks.

I have a UV sterilizer on my reef. I do not use it 24/7. I bought it as a control for ICK but use more as a control for algae blooms. It is very effective, within days it will reduce that yellow, green colour in the water to crystal clear.

Tom R

I have been running UV 24/7 for about a year now and I do think I am benifiting from it but yet I could not prove it if you asked.

Steve

appreciaSEAN
 

As always, your opinions and experience are appreciated. thanx sooo much :)


(u.v. was intended for ick control)


Sean

For Ich, it's not the greatest and from what I've read Ozone is better. I use UV 24/7 and the greatest benefit is algae control. My experiment was to shut it off for a week and during my weekly maintenance I found I had to clean the glass considerably more than when I had it on.

Don't use UV sterilizers, but don't have much of an algae problem on the glass of any of my three tanks, either. Must be the low bioload of each tank, weekly water changes and other maintenance, or other contributing factors.

I used them a lot in the 80,s but never really knew why. :lol:

Seems as if they are becoming popular again, esp. with the bare bottomed sps tank crowd.

As does the use of ozone, which waspopular in the 90,s reef aquariums.

Watch out for ozone though because unlike UV sterilizers, ozone can get into your tank & kill off your fish (this has happened to another Canreefer). UV works best as a preventative or at the start of an outbreak of ick IME. If the ick is already really bad, then the fish is usually a lost cause unfortunately.

Anthony