UV? Is It Worth Buying

[brick-brothers]

Hey I wanted to know is a uv worth buying? I have a 120g that I'm starting to add corals.

 

[JimmyR1rider]

I have one but this is one that youre gonna run into a lot of debate about and probably wind up still wondering this very question you just asked unfortunately.

It kills a lot of bad things in your tank but a lot of guys also believe it kills some beneficial stuff as well. Is probably gonna come down to whether you feel you want one or not. They are good to run if theres a suspected disease outbreak. Good luck with it.....Jimmy

 

[masterswimmer]

I have one but this is one that youre gonna run into a lot of debate about and probably wind up still wondering this very question you just asked unfortunately.

It kills a lot of bad things in your tank but a lot of guys also believe it kills some beneficial stuff as well. Is probably gonna come down to whether you feel you want one or not. They are good to run if theres a suspected disease outbreak. Good luck with it.....Jimmy

+1

If you've got ich or suspect ich, then you immediately hook it up. It will kill the free floating ich cysts.

Controversial yes. But I think most of the folks on both sides of the argument probably agree it is beneficial if there is a confirmed outbreak in your system.

Russ

 

[brick-brothers]

Somebody else told me the samething about it killing some benefical stuff as well as the bad stuff. I think i'm going to hold off on it till i do more research on it.

I have one but this is one that youre gonna run into a lot of debate about and probably wind up still wondering this very question you just asked unfortunately.

It kills a lot of bad things in your tank but a lot of guys also believe it kills some beneficial stuff as well. Is probably gonna come down to whether you feel you want one or not. They are good to run if theres a suspected disease outbreak. Good luck with it.....Jimmy

 

[masterswimmer]

Manny, the best thing to do is exactly what you're doing, research. Also, part of your research should reveal that a new, young, immature tank should definitely not have a UV running on it.

The good bacteria populating our tanks in the early days are so few and weak that we need to allow them to grow in numbers and in strength. Make no mistake about it, a UV light will kill the ich parasites and other parasites, as well as copepods, amphipods, mysis shrimp, etc. as long as they are free floating. Whatever passes by the UV light (at the appropriate flow rate) will perish. As your tank matures, and all that means is, your tank has millions of bacterial colonies, pod colonies, benthic life, and the system keeps evolving towards a self sustaining, burgeoning, enclosed biosystem, and can regenerate easier from the losses encountered from a UV sterilizer faster and more efficiently than a young, pre-adolescent system.

Therefore, a healthy, mature tank will benefit at certain times, from running a UV sterilizer. A young tank will likely take a 'hit' and have a slow down of its maturing process if you run a UV on it in its early days.

Hope I didn't totally confuse the heck out of you.
Good luck with your research,
Russ

 

[brick-brothers]

Good info. My tank is young.

Manny, the best thing to do is exactly what you're doing, research. Also, part of your research should reveal that a new, young, immature tank should definitely not have a UV running on it.

The good bacteria populating our tanks in the early days are so few and weak that we need to allow them to grow in numbers and in strength. Make no mistake about it, a UV light will kill the ich parasites and other parasites, as well as copepods, amphipods, mysis shrimp, etc. as long as they are free floating. Whatever passes by the UV light (at the appropriate flow rate) will perish. As your tank matures, and all that means is, your tank has millions of bacterial colonies, pod colonies, benthic life, and the system keeps evolving towards a self sustaining, burgeoning, enclosed biosystem, and can regenerate easier from the losses encountered from a UV sterilizer faster and more efficiently than a young, pre-adolescent system.

Therefore, a healthy, mature tank will benefit at certain times, from running a UV sterilizer. A young tank will likely take a 'hit' and have a slow down of its maturing process if you run a UV on it in its early days.

Hope I didn't totally confuse the heck out of you.
Good luck with your research,
Russ