Uv Sterilizer

[13thmonkey]

whats the general opinion on UV sterilizers. i was having quite a problem with green hair algea this summer and was considering buying on. now that it is cooling off and my algea problem seems to be subsiding im not going to worry about it so much. i do want to get some ideas about getting one so if my algea problem comes back ill know what to do.

 

[crazyelece]

They won't do anything for hair algea, just free floating algea types.

 

[SkiFletch]

Should your hair algae ever get out of control, enlist the help of General Xavier:

I too had some significant hair lagae problems over the summer, but the good General is laying waste to the algae.

(ps, thats a sea hare )

 

[13thmonkey]

ive never seen a sea hare (or heard of one for that matter) what is it ? are they reef safe?

 

[SkiFletch]

Its funny, cause I knew what they were (seen them in florida tidal areas all the time), but I never knew they were bigtime algae eaters. They are reef safe. Their only drawbacks are that they every so slightly prone to rock bulldozing and they can clear too much algale and not have anything left to eat.

 

[N1z]

The unit it self wont fix algeas too much just free swimming ones. But they are good in a reef way IMO as they can knock down the free swimming stage of parasites meaing the fish are living in like a hospital as it were 24/7

 

[13thmonkey]

ski, live aquaria says "If it becomes startled, it may release a purple dye to repel attacking fish. In the home aquarium, the Sea Hare will need a good chemical filter system to quickly remove this toxic dye before it causes problems. " is this common? have you ever had this happen? if it does is it worth having it?

 

[SkiFletch]

Actually, I'm pretty sure it happened to me last night while I was asleep. Noticed this morning that my protein skimmer was full of what looked like red coolaid which I can only assume was the ink from the sea hare. I cleaned the skimmer the night before and it was empty when I went to bed. Next morning, full of red ink. All my livestock are accounted for and nobody seems overly stressed about the ink. From what I've read the ink itself is non-toxic and non-nitrogenous (so it cant break down into ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate)) and generally poses very little risk to your system. Dunno how this would differ if you were not running a protein skimmer, but such has been my experience.