UV sterilizers

[reefNewbie]

Do Uv sterilizers prevent and cure ich?

 

[CraigLampe]

I doubt that UV sterilizers CURE ANYTHING... in my opinion you are just killing off alot of the natural bacteria which are in and around your gravel and are beneficial, and then all of the DEAD STUFF gets dumped back into the tank!!

 

[pncstod]

IMHO UV sterilizers will kill free floating ich. If your fish have ich it will not kill what is on them. Try using garlic soaked food. This worked wonders for me. I had a couple fish break out with ich after a recent transfer to a larger tank. I hooked up my UV and began feeding with garlic and within a week or so no fish are showing any signs of ich. I dont know if it was the garlic, uv or just that the fish were very healthy. I think that a healthy fish will survive ich as long as it is eating. I usually do not run the uv unless I plan on adding a new fish or any fish show signs of ich. Good luck!

 

[danmhippo]

IMHO UV sterilizers will kill free floating ich.

On the condition the UV unit is setup correctly. The flow rate must be within the recommended flow rate as listed in the manual. Otherwise there will not be enough contact time between the living organisms and the UV light. Too many people plumb it with flow rate too high.

 

[Anonymous]

"in my opinion you are just killing off alot of the natural bacteria which are in and around your gravel and are beneficial"

Not likely. The unit can only kill what the pump pulls from the water column. The bacteria colonizing the sandbed are not pelagic.
Just some further reading: http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/showt ... eadid=4454

 

[pncstod]

I would suggest a slower flow rate than the manual recomends. I have mine setup with a very slow gph to make sure that it works. Also if you have a quartz sleeve uv light make sure you keep the sleeve clean. A friend of mine just pulled his apart and it was covered with calcium deposits and other stuff, almost no light was getting through. I dont know how much good stuff the uv kills but if you have an expensive fish and need to save him, i will live with the fact that some good organisms will die off. I dont run it 24/7, just when i am going to add something new or for some reason the hippo tang breaks out in ich. Just my .02 cents

 

[Clark]

I tend to maintain the belief that all fish carry ich..and that stress in the tank usually causes it to manifest itself...Find the source of the stress and cure the ich..usually temp..tank heating up in the day time and cooling off at night...also shifting ph brings ich to the surface..I have had some very serious ich infections and have managed to survive them..just by locating the source of the fish stress..could be as simple as another fish picking on it..

My bet is temp..check it in the morning right before the lights come on. Then check it again right before the lights go off..if it shifts more than a few of degrees 3 or 4 that is most likely your problem..

 

[Anonymous]

Do Uv sterilizers prevent and cure ich?

uv sterilizers will kill any organism that pass through them at the proper flow and irradiation rate.

will they prevent and 'cure' ick? not necessarily.ich can spread from fish to fish w/out ever passing through the uv. :wink:

they are certainly absolutely INcapable of eliminating any organism ,completely, from any tank, on their own.

(nature of the beast)