Uv Sterilizers

[MrGT500]

i was told that getting a UV sterilizer for my 27 gallon cube would cure my cloudy water issue. any thoughts?

 

[DrRob]

Simple answer, probably not.

More complex answer, it depends on why you have cloudy water, but it probably isn't the best way to clear it in an aquarium. They're great for green water algae in ponds, but if you have that in an aquarium then you need to solve the cause.

What sort of cloudy water are we dealing with? Is it green, white, brown or just dingy?

 

[OldMan47]

There is a big difference between using a UV to kill bacteria or green water algae and finding the reason that it exists and removing the reason. It is always better to remove the source of the problem than to treat the symptom, at least in my opinion.

 

[MrGT500]

the water is white, i have used seachem stability and along with water changes it comes clear for about a week and then becomes white again. my fish are happy and it doesnt seem to bother them, and considering how fragil elephant noses can be i would assume it might not be harmful such as amonia. i really dont know what it is, but it makes my tank look awful.

 

[OldMan47]

Have a look at your filter. Cloudy water can be the result of just not filtering with a fine enough filter. Some simple filter floss, I use polyester pillow stuffing, at the return end of the flow path can do wonders.

 

[DrRob]

+1 to the old man.

Causes I can think of are stirred up dust from sand or similar because something is digging or the pumps are churning it up, bacterial bloom (which I'm guessing whoever suggested the UV was thinking it was) but that's unusual in an established tank, or some flocculant protein stuff which the filter wool will get rid of.

Do remember that, if your flow drops, then it's most often the filter wool clogged because it's doing it's job, so it's a first for changing. I only use mine intermittently to polish.

 

[MrGT500]

im useing an emporor 400 on the tank with 4 filter pads. i would think that would be enough filtration for the water to go through no?

 

[OldMan47]

NO. An Emperor 400 is a rather simple cartridge filter that has no fine filtration built in. I use a bit smaller Emperor on one of my tanks but I have no illusion about its effectiveness as a particulate filter. It is a poor particulate filter that merely removes the largest particles from the water, but it is a great biofilter, which is why I still use mine. If you really want to remove the tiny particulate that leads to cloudy appearances in your water, you will need to add something like filter floss to your water's flow path.