Anyone using a UV filter for discus?

[ScottW]

Is one looking into? Will there be any benefits?

[Ryan925]

I for one am a firm believer in UV. Many will tell you it's unnecessary but that does not mean it does not have benefits. The biggest key to UV is flow rate. Don't be sold on these gimmicky 9W or whatever units.

[navarro1950]

I believe that they help also. I have the coral life turbo and it went out on me just this pass week. So I am in the market for another one . Ryan which one do you use ?

[jmf3460]

ive used a uv filter, not on a discus tank but ive used one once on a planted tank that had a floating algae (green water) outbreak. it did the trick on that tank in like 24 hours when nothing else would. for a discus tank, I think the main theory is that your water change regimen should be enough that you don't need a uv filter.

[Neptune]

24/7.
UV can get a bad rap because you have to understand how it works.
1. It's easy to go cheap and just buy a low cost UV unit. They don't have enough dwell time and strong enough UV radiation to really do much.
2. Unless you have a green water breakout and use one to clear it up you really can't see any benefits.
3. It is know to raise redox levels, which a lot of aquarists don't understand/think are important. AND again you can't see it, you have to measure it and most freshwater people don't have a redox meter.
4. People that poo poo often think you are suppose to get 100% disinfection rates and it will cure/kill every bad nasty in the water. It's not a silver bullet that will magically make all your illness problems instantly go away.
5. It is a great tool to aide in the best water quality you can get.

Gotta go....I'm actually changing my UV bulb today!

[Ryan925]

I believe that they help also. I have the coral life turbo and it went out on me just this pass week. So I am in the market for another one . Ryan which one do you use ?

I'm actually going to be purchasing one soon for my new sump. I had a cheaper one I was using on my planted. I will be going with an aqua uv unit.

I install uv filters on swimming pools. If they are effective for 40,000 gallons believe they can be effective on a fish tank lol

[DISCUS STU]

I use Coral life Turbo Twist 3X's on my 55 and 60 and another larger one that I found in the old memory bin in my closet for my 90 gal and it's an 8 watt. They definitely make a difference as I do 50% wc's every 3-4 days with bb tanks. They're a good investment and work especially well on my planted 55.

The limiting factor used to be the cost of the bulbs but they've come down quit a bit and last about 4-6 months. The bulbs have become much less expensive because you can find generic equivalents through various online bulb resellers that sell thousands of different bulbs with UV being just one of them.

[Filip]

As others have allready said the benefits of a UV unit in keeping the fish pathogens at bay cannot be measured and noticed by a regular hobbyist .
But I do believe it is already done and it is proven in a lab with an bacterial plate count method prior and after use of UV filtration of a water column .
I do believe that with our religious WCs we are fighting Heterotrophic bacteria on a daily level rather than nitrate levels in water , and if this is true I believe that proper UV unit , should help keep those bacterial numbers in water column lower than just a regular filtration.

Misuse and unrealistic expectations of UVs is the biggest problem when it comes to evaluating its effectivness.