Uv Sterilizers

[drag]

any one use these.... recommend?

 

[xxBarneyxx]

I have one but dont run it 24/7. I run mine on my QT or when I have sick fish. They do help remove pathogens from the water and lots of people have them running on their tank constantly.

Some people will say that it kills off the benifical things in the water as well but I personally think the benifits outweigh any potential cons (even though I dont run mine 24/7).

Wouldnt say it is essential but is a useful piece of kit to have around even if you only use it for emergencies.

 

[SkiFletch]

Agree with Barney on this one. Also IME they help slow the growth of nuisance algaes, especially algae that likes to find a foothold on your glass. So if you have that issue and are scraping daily, a UV migh tonly make you need to scrape every 3rd day or so.

 

[drag]

I have one but dont run it 24/7. I run mine on my QT or when I have sick fish. They do help remove pathogens from the water and lots of people have them running on their tank constantly.

Some people will say that it kills off the benifical things in the water as well but I personally think the benifits outweigh any potential cons (even though I dont run mine 24/7).

Wouldnt say it is essential but is a useful piece of kit to have around even if you only use it for emergencies.

what beneficial things could it potentially kill?

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Micro organisms mainly that corals and smaller critters feed off. I know people that have big old UV units running 24/7 though and their tanks are absolutely perfect so I wouldnt worry to much about it

 

[Colin_T]

zooplankton and phytoplankton are often killed by UV sterilisers. However, that doesn't make much difference in most aquariums.
If you get a UV steriliser, then make sure you filter the water before it goes through the unit. The cleaner the water the better the UV steriliser will work.

 

[drag]

well i bit the bullet and bought the coralife 6x 18 watt sterilizer good for up to 250 gallon .hope it turns out to be a good buy

planning on runing it 24/7

 

[rabbut]

My personal opinion of UV sterilisers is that they cure the symptom, not the caurse. In QT, and as part of treatment for a parasite/bacterial infection, or on Centralised Systems, they are invaluable, but IMO they have no place in general fishkeeping. If you have something regularly bouncing arround in your system without one, there has to be an underlying caurse that is making your fish sick, and by using the UV you are simply masking the issue, rather than fixing it [/rant]