UV Sterilizer questions

[1mtnbkr]

I am new to the hoby and I have just experanced my first ich outbreak, I have read that a UV sterilizer may help the situation. I was wondering what the opninon was out there, add a sterilizer ot no?

What are the pro's and con's. I have mushrooms,Zoa's, 1 cleaner shrimp and one coral beauty with ICH!

[Dragon Wrasse]

I run UV on both my SPS tank and my Softy tank both are 75 gal. The SPS tank runs the UV 24 - 7 and in my Softy tank I only run it when adding new live stock....I run it for a couple of weeks after adding a fish or coral....remember with UV if your killing the bad you are also killing the good. On both tanks the UV filters only pick off a percentage of the water collumn, I don't run full water collumn through them.

[aquaman3680]

I run a UV sterilizer on my tank. In fact i wouldnt run a tank without one. The disease problems never happen with a UV. Pros are it will get rid of the bad stuff but also some good stuff in the water, phytoplankton and things of that nature. I think that the pros out weigh the cons. What size tank is it?

Just my opinion

Matt

[PhilOlsen]

I run mine with my daylights, about 8 hours per day and get great results and extend bulb life. The most important thing to remember is UV's are not rated for salt water, they are rated for fresh which gives them a higher rating. If a filter is rated for 200 gallons, I would not use it in ant salt tank larger than 30 gallons and that is cutting it close to be truly effective. It does not only kill harmful parasites but controls algae blooms as well, I would NEVER run a tank without one and strongly recommend you invest in one, how big is your tank? As for the ICK, turn your temp up a bit and it will help prevent it as well, ICK loves cooler tanks but if you keep your temp at 79-80 the parasites will not be as hardy and spread as quickly, not a proven technique but worked for me prior to getting UV's

[1mtnbkr]

Thanks for the feedback, The tank is a 24 gallon aquapod but I think it is closer to 18 gal actual volume.

So my next question would be what brand? JBJ has a new Subrariner that is designed for cubes, anyone know anythin about it? It looks good to me and I may go for it. The lit says 5 watt is enough for 70 gal.

[Dragon Wrasse]

Sounds a bit low...I have 15W on my 75 gal.

[aquaman3680]

At the store i used to work at we had a Submariner. Works great. We had it on a 100 gallon tank with a 1 foot Queen trigger a 9 inch golden puffer, a 9 inch clown trigger, a huge maroon clown, and other triggers and eels. We had no disease problems in that tank. Those UVs work great and a 5 watt would be plenty

[billyr98]

I run a UV on a reef, and wouldn't have it any other way... Aquaultraviolets are a great brand!!