almost got it all :)
 

so the only things i need for my sps tank are a calcium reactor and a uv sterilizer. ( i know that people always say there almost done lol) anyway i know what im getting for a calcium reactor but i dont know where to start with a uv sterilizer. i have a 150 gallon system and any suggestions would be appreciated :)

I suggest not putting one in your system. Do more research and you'll find many more advanced aquarist that will agree.

My wife & I love ick-magnet fish like Powder Blue tangs & Porcupine puffers. I have an 80w UV on my reef & a 40w UV on my fowlr/softie tank. Helps keep the ick under control enough for our ick-magnets to fight it off.

Anthony

They fry beneficial bacterial and plankton populations in your tank Furthermore they can raise the Temp of you tank. Don't get me wrong they do sterilize the water and reduce pathogens but all the water in the tank would have to pass through it and that just doesn't happen. Leaving refuge areas for reproduction of pathogens ect. If proper water quality is maintained and you try to buy fish that are healthy. IMO a UV unit is not needed.

buy a qt tank instead of a uv

+1 on that but however, when you get a fish like smaller angels and tangs like powder blues and browns, they usally the first time being shipped that is it they will keep getting it. once that fish is in your tank you have icvk and the only way to rid the tank of ick is the way Lance did it 6 weeks with no fish. to kill off the free floater pests that attach to the fish. Feeding garlic will only cause the ick pests to drop off the fish but they still will live on the bottom waiting for the next fish to appear at night usually that is how it happens. cleaner wrasses are great forthat taking rid of the pests and shrimps too.

but the best way is the 6week method

allrighty thanks for the advice guys. i was just gonna get one because i though you were supposed to in an sps tank. but if i dont need it that just saves me money :)

Well, I have to disagree to a point...

I have the corallife 36 watt in my reef tank and everything is actually doing better, fish and coral... I had way too much plankton happening and I couldn't get rid of the last of any algae.

Now in saying this, I run ZEOVIT, the UV has actually helped me to get my tank to a zero nutrient environment. And now the ZEOVIT is really starting to kick in.

I guess it all depends on what you are doing. Good luck

Sorry, I have to correct this. If your tank was zero nutrient it would die. ZEOvit encourages low nutrient tanks. :)

UV sterilizers have their place, which imo is generally on a quarantine tank. In order to kill pathogens though, the wattage has to be much higher than most people think, and the length of exposure needs to be longer as well. For these reasons, UV sterilizers are usually only good for killing algae which is more sensitive.

On a QT I like to run a UV wattage that is 10x the capacity of the tank. So for a 30 gallon QT, get something close to 30w, then have 3x the wattage for turnover, so in this case about 90 gph. I wouldn't recommend this for a display though, it would kill too much beneficial "stuff".

The objective with Zeo is a low nutrient system, so sorry, I didn't reread my post. Zero is very hard to achieve, so low nutrient is always the goal.

Also with Zeovit systems, especially with Europeans, the common is 2 protein skimmers and UV. I am running the same configurations as the europeans and tend to follow their directions more as they seem to have a longer and much more experience with this type of system than North Americans.

Fiorano, my advice to you would be to ask others, but with all the information you get, you then have to make your own decisions. Everyone has different points of view, but it will be up to you to what you wish to do. I have found alot of good advice from others that may have saved me money and time, but I do know that some things I do others would hang me for it. What I have done has worked for me, it may not work for others.

Good luck, but more importantly have FUN!!!