UV steralizers...are they good?

[Mattzilla]

does anyone here use one? i don't know too much about them but a friend of mine told me they kill all the nasties like parasites and stuff in the water. is this true?? do they kill beneficial bacteria??

i would like to hear some peoples personale opinions and experiences with them.

thanks

matt

[M0oN]

They kill single celled algae and parasites, they do not harm beneficial bacteria.

You'll need one with an 18 watt bulb to do anything but kill green algae...

They're not really worth it unless you've got water quality issue's in planted aquariums...

Water changes do just as well, and medicating your fish...quarantine new arrivals etc...

[discus_nw]

Nitrifying bacteria colonize a substrate and are not free floating, so a UV sterilizer will not cause a problem in that area. UV works by exposing an organism to the internal light for the period of time it is in the sterilizer only.

[slicksta]

...from what I understand they are an expensive maybe not so necessary extra step in fresh water aquariums. It definitely can not hurt, but not sure if you would see any benefit to justify the cost.

I do know a LFS that uses them on there central filter system for freshwater....but they deal with a high level of cooties with new fish ariving constantly...
John

[Mattzilla]

yeah... i have seen one for about $100 online...but i do a 30% w/c every day...sometimes two...is that enough to not worry about a UV steraliser? i don't want to waste my money but if it is going to be a definate benefit to my discus' health then i am willing to spend the money

what to do???

matt

[gump]

I have been cnsidering one for awhile too. But this is for my families health!! Being on a dug well, I feel it may be a good investment to have. They are fairly cheap & easy to install with any plumbing knowhow. The summer months concern me more than this time of year for "nasties" getting into the water.
Pierre

[slicksta]

WC and UV do two different jobs.....so you need to decide whether or not you have a parasite, algae, or other cooties problem.
John

[Mattzilla]

i don't have an algea problem...i'm just concerned with parasites and maybe cooties...lol

i mainly want to decrease the possibility of my fish getting sick. they are all healthy at the moment and if i can minimize the risk of getting sick then i would like to.

i'm still not sure if i should get one...

has anyone ever got one and been really happy thet they did??? or vise versa???

thanks for your help

matt

[M0oN]

Well I honestly thought I wanted one forever, then I got one rated for a 1400 gallon pond and sold it before I even bothered hooking it up to the tank!

You shouldn't have to worry about parasites and such if you've got good methods of quarantine and keep a clean tank...even then you can get a bottle of formalin for like 8 bucks that'll last you a year and it's probably more effective then a UV sterilizer would be for anything in the tank that isn't internal...

If you've got green algae in your water then you need to do some serious work on how you keep your tank anyway...I think using a UV sterilizer is just trying to hide a bigger underlying problem in most cases...

I can justify using one in a heavily planted tank, because even ich can become a huge problem since you can't really medicate the tank at all...but even then the following guidelines apply for what wattage does what damage in what sized tank:

To control bacteria and algae in a 60 gallon tank you need a 4 watt bulb, this will not even begin to affect parasites. In the same respect a 120 gallon tank requires an 8 watt bulb, and this is just for algae...

The following are the tank sizes and wattage required to effectively do what you want it to do:
75 gallon - 15 watt bulb
100 gallon - 18 watt bulb
150 gallon - 25 watt bulb
175 gallon - 30 watt bulb
300 gallon - 40 watt bulb
570 gallon - 65 watt bulb
625 gallon - 80 watt bulb
900 gallon - 120 watt bulb
1140 gallon - 130 watt bulb

Either way you cut it that's a lot of money, any time I think my discus are suffering from gill flukes or the like I just do a one week dose of formalin...it seems to really perk them up anyway and I know it's said not to medicate without reason, but this stuff really does seem harmless to fish (I've used triple the recommended dose in a 10 gallon tank on some wild caught rummy nose tetra without a single problem).

Just my two cents...

[Mattzilla]

thanks moon....

i might give it a miss then cause my tank is kept pretty clean anyway

thanks for your advice guys

matt

[keith_cny]

IMO if you have well water and not city water if may not be a bad idea to consider a UV sterilizer. I had a very difficult time in 2003 figuring out what was causing serious health issues with my fish. Bottom line it turned out my well had a bacteria problem. After shocking well and retesting well several times there was still a very small amount of the bacteria detected. US sterilizer cleaned the water up the rest of the way. Got my latest test results yesterday. In process of ordering a 2nd uv to install inline where my well pipe comes in the house. The first uv will stay inline between my holding tank and filler hose.

I read an article that said 70% of well's would test positive for bacteria. I will try and find the article again and post the link. I think it was an Ohio State website/research article.

Just my opinion/2 cents

Keith