UV Sterilizer VS No UV Sterilizer

Tosh_Auer

Tosh_Auer

Member
I was recently talking to the owner of my LFS and was talking to him about UV Sterilizers in SW tanks and he said that some people think there good but himself doesn't like them as they kill something in the water that you want(i couldn't understand half the stuff he was saying) so i was wondering as i already have one if i should get rid of it or keep it and use it in my to be new SW tank?
 
Brucey

Brucey

Well-Known Member
Tosh ..... it really is a personnal choice. I don't run UV but I do run ozone and I have the same dilemmer. Basically, you have good and bad with both. Your UV will (if setup correctly - slow flow rates etc) be killing off harmful bacteria such as ich .... but on the downside your also killing off beneficial zooplankton which your corals need to survice. The bottom line I guess is that if your tank is setup correctly, good water quality etc then the fish's own defences should deal with harmful bacteria in the water. But then if your water quality slips your UV will greatly help kill off the bacteria that could cause problems in the tank. The reason I run ozone (via an redox probe), is improve the quality of the water by raising the redox readding (overall reading of water quality). So, you will find a lot of people here using UV, but also lots saying that it is not required.
HTH
Brucey
 
Brucey

Brucey

Well-Known Member
You know, like the ozone layer ..... basically I use ozone to inject into my skimmer instead of oxygen. Ozone has purfying properties that kills anything it touches ..... but you must be careful, 1 not to use it in excessive amounts (why I use an ozone computer) and 2 you must flush it out of the water before it re-enters your main tank otherwise it can harm the fish (I run mine through a charcoal bed before returning it to the sump)
Brucey
 
Brucey

Brucey

Well-Known Member
PS, Chemical notation is O3 I think, Oxygen plus one more atom (o2 to 03 .... I think)
 
mgregory

mgregory

Member
Tosh.....I've always been told not to run one because it kills off all the beneficial organisms like Brucey said. But then again....I've been told a lot of "stuff" that was wrong!!! Great question it will be interesting to see what everyone comes up with!
 
mojoreef

mojoreef

Just a reefer
Ahhh UV. Uv is a flitration device that deals with problems at a microbal level. As mentioned above thier is a myth that some how it will hurt your corals through depriving thier food sources. The vast majority of Natural food sources in our reeftanks come from bacteria and detritus. Yes thier is a small amount of larve, and protozoa (good and bad) and maybe some zoo. how much that pertains though is another story. Most benefical things also fall in the catagory of prey, being that, they act like prey and stay close to hiding places and places of shelter. Most of the nasties however are preditor and tend to be found in more open water. With the use of a uv you are killing all critters good or bad that happen to be pulled from the water column and go through the unit. the result is skewed deaths in preds and free floating aglae spore and phyto, for me thats a win win.
With all the food available to corals via detritus and bacterial, trying to keep and maintain more seems way overkill and a threat to water quality.

I run a 140 watts of UV and always have.

Mike
 
dgasmd

dgasmd

Member
There was a thread here a few weeks back where we talked about this stuff.

Like Mike said it is an indiscriminate killer of all things going by. However, 99% of the stuff floating in your tank is non desirable anyway. There is a huge amount of bacteria in the water, most of which is completely non-contributory to health but that can cause some harmfull things. 95% of what you fish poop, just like humans, is bacteria. I don't care how you look at it, it is not good. I personally use UV, but nowhere near enough. Will bump that up in the future.

As far as ozone goes, it is another way of breaking down organic compounds. It so happens that it is very harmfull to bacteria, parasites, etc too. It does improve water quality significantly and when combined with UV you get the best of both worlds. It is very reactive and it can harm fish and corals if in direct contact with them. Most people use them in a skimmer so it gets dissolved better and run some carbon to bind anything extra left over. DO NOT run it directly in your tank. I repeat, DO NOT.

I think you'll be better served by doing a search here, in RC, and in www.wetwebmedia.com
You'll find tons of info on it.
 
M

mwrager

Active Member
I run my UV filter on a separate pump. Right now it is down. The pump went out. A few weeks after my pump went out I started to get brown slime on everything. It makes me think that the UV filter was helping kill it before. Still looking for a new pump.
 
ScottT1980

ScottT1980

Well-Known Member
Just a UV question guys:

Is its primary function as a mutagenic factor in the aquarium or does it literally break down particulates in the water column? Either way, can filter feeders still utilize the "good stuff" as a food source even after it passes through the UV? I mean, I guess it will kill things, giving bacteria the chance to break them down but ultimatly, does it really significantly decrease the amount of usable resources by the filter feeders (I am guessing you guys don't think so, I just wanted a bit of clarification from the more knowledgable).

Does that make any sense? I guess what I am getting at is this. Dead stuff still can be food but with denatured stuff, it becomes more difficult I would think.

Take er easy
Scott T.
 
H

Hooked

Member
Interesting question Scott. Unfortunately, I don't have the answer :confused: , but I do have a question for those who run UV. I've pretty much decided I want to add UV filtration to my set-up, but I've never seen it set up on a tank. I'm wondering do I set it up like a closed loop and does it matter if the input water is from the sump or the tank. And finally, how many watts per gallon is recommended?

TIA :cool:
 
Brucey

Brucey

Well-Known Member
Hooked, Basically the slower the water flow the better as it maximises the time / contact with the UV and particle matter it is targetting
Brucey
 
David

David

Member
I've got a question also; isn't ozone an unstable molecule and try to return to O2 + O whenever it can? Does this present problems?
 
mojoreef

mojoreef

Just a reefer
Scott you always ask the tough questions, lol A UV is like a germacide, the ultraviolet radiation penetrates microorganism’s cell wall. It then destroys the nuclear material causing death. UV lights will also generate a little ozone to. So if I understand your question it doesnt vaporize it into nothing, just kills it. thier is alot of harmful pathogenic bacteria and protozoa in our system, this is a great way to eleminate them.

Now Ozone is a different player, David you are right it is an active mole, ad an unforgiving oxidizer. It is more of a older technology, that has faded since the advent of much better skimmers. it can be very safe to run as long as it is monitored and controled IMHO. Now when its finished with its prey thier aint nothing left, lol

Mike
 
P

Playa

Active Member
Mike said:
"I run a 140 watts of UV and always have."

I run myself 18watts of UV since I am in the proletary end of things, if I could afford to run more I would run about 50 or so.

Good post Mike.

UV is doing well and I have Coraline algae growing well.

Luis
 
kfra

kfra

New Member
Have run a Uv for about a year. Wouldn't be without it. Have had no problems as i did before i got it.
 
V

VINA DEL MAR

Member
I must be an old timer because i'm still using devices that years ago was a most to own.UV sterilizers strictly speaking is not a filter it does'nt filter anything out.

An ultra-violet sterilizer is a device designed to destroy free swimming disease organisms in the aquarium.

It works by producing powerful short wave UV radiation capable of killing any organisms but only if the water flow is slow to expose the bacteria and viruses.

It will kill off most infectious organisms,marine dinoflagellate,and Oodinium,and the so famous white spot disease.

Some folks say why using UV sterelizer in a reef tank when they are not suppose to get sick.Well my friends, fish get sick the same when their are in the real reef(natural enviroment)That's the reason why there are so many cleaning stations service provide by many shrimps, small angel fishes,and so on.

Because normally in a fish only aquarium we could treat it with medications is a no!no! in a reef tank unless you have a lot of money to replace all your beautiful corals.

I also know that sterelizer prevents the so called " toxic tank syndrome"and destroying algae spores before they get out of control.Am I happy using this UV device?the answer is yes.Can I convince other reefers to use it?I dont know 'cause there is two schools about it!

Now about ozonizers, yes! I use one too!I'm full of gadgets he,he,he.Hey I have to protect my investments right?An ozonizer contains a transformer capable of producing 12,000 volts,and yes dont put your hands inside this device!.

This high voltage discharge produces ozone inside of a special chamber to where air is supply by an air pump and pushes this ozone gas out and into a ozone reactor or skimmer.

This water should first flow over activated carbon never directly to your tank!!Carbon will convert any ozone back to oxigen.How much ozone I used in my 90 gl. reef tank?Continuous use around 15 mg/hour and after a water change around 20 mg/hour.The redox potencial reading in my tank is now 410.

Ozone in the marine tank it is used to bleach the water,improve oxigen saturation,increase the redox potencial,oxidize organic waste and mildly sterilize.Quite a useful little gadget to have!It also works better when you have a controller so you dont overdose your tank with too much clean water(lol).

Before I forget always read the instructions first!Never assume you know everything OK?Me I'm learning something every day especially here at RS!

Oxigen molecules normally consist of pairs of oxigen atoms(02).Ozone molecules have 3 atoms(o3).Ozone is very unstable and always tries to revert back to oxigen and to do this the extra atom is used to oxidize another compound.

I'm sorry this got to be so long but I just want to help a little bit especially the new reefers.Thank you for reading.
VINA
 
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