OZONE or UV
 

Folks I have asked this in another thread but what is better? I need better information. Not just on water clarity but what is better to help prevent Ich and other water born deasies?

Thanks in advance

Neither is useful as disease control in a single tank set up. Simply put, any pathogens can and will readily exist in a tank without ever passing through your UV or Ozone reactor. They can be useful in a multiple tank central systems to prevent spread of disease from one tank to another, but will not have any effect on disease within a given tank should some disease organism be introduced.

That said, Ozone can be beneficial to overall water quality and is quite useful in that regard ;)

Personally I dont think either do a great job fighting ich. Quarantine everything that goes into the tank and you will never have ich. UV is way to inefficient because it only kills what passes through it and only if the flow rate is correct. Ozone is pretty much the same, although I would say more efficient. The problem is that ich does not spend a heck of a lot of time in the water column and neither ozone or UV can kill it when its on your fish or in substrate or rocks.

Having said that, I run ozone and love it for many of the other reasons. Much less algae in the tank, better water quality and very clear water. If you want to set one up, go ozone but make sure you do your homework about setting up correctly.

I think we were typing basically the same thing at the same time :)

ok here is now the question. My 180 was without fish for 6 weeks after Ich. All fish were in QT during this period and treated with copper and hypo. After the six weeks I put one fish in from the QT. He was in the Qt for the whole time and never showed any signs. He has been in the 180 now for six days and is showing some small white spots again.

I have found over the years that the only way to make sure your display is ich free is to wait at least 2 months. 6 weeks is still taking a chance in my opinion.

As for the fish in QT, they need to remain in QT for at least 2-3 weeks AFTER the last spots or signs of ich are seen to make sure they really do not have ich. I usually keep mine for about a month after the last spots.

Another thing to consider is that hypo does not always work. Plus 6 weeks is the minimum, I would always go 8 weeks myself. If you already have the fish in QT, whats another few weeks to make sure they don't have another outbreak. Although you did say you used copper as well...What level did you keep the copper at?

The problem I see with hypo is that more often then not, people who treat with hypo end up having another outbreak a few weeks or months later. Im really not convinced it is very effective at all.

I see where you are going with this though and I think that adding ozone or UV is never a bad thing. Especially ozone. Anything you can do to increase the water quality will help the fish fight off parasites and keep them healthy.

none of the fish showed any signs for at least 30 days. I used garlic @ 2ppm. Never more and never less. I am just lost.

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11535976#post11535976 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by janderson8 [/i]
[B]none of the fish showed any signs for at least 30 days. I used garlic @ 2ppm. Never more and never less. I am just lost. [/B][/QUOTE]

You mean copper, not garlic right?

Yeah seems like you did most everything right...I would say that a display fallow for only 6 weeks is still a bit of a risk. Could be that it was just not long enough. There are some pretty tough strains of ich out there.

So how long shoul it be fallow. And yes I ment Copper

So how long shoul it be fallow. And yes I ment Copper

I hear a lot of people say 6-8 weeks but I have had mixed results with 6 weeks. Personally I would go more like 8-9 weeks. Like I said earlier, may as well go a little longer if you have already had fish in QT for so long.

This doesn't help you in this case though because now that you have introduced a fish to the display, the 8 weeks would have to start over again. While the fish were in QT, they were all added at once and then no more were added right?

Yes all fish put into QT at the same time. So I will give the fish a day or two see how he does then move him back to QT

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11537075#post11537075 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by janderson8 [/i]
[B]Yes all fish put into QT at the same time. So I will give the fish a day or two see how he does then move him back to QT [/B][/QUOTE]

Yeah this is really too bad because it sounds like you did everything right and should not have ich anymore.

Have you tried dropping salinity for, say, a month? Try dropping it, gently, to 1.019, for example, and see how it works. Leave it for a month and slowly raise it up.

BTW, ozone and uv aren't either or. You can run both, as I do. Running both in small amounts helps make the water crisp, so to speak, and helps the skimmer (rather than hinders it). But they won't control ich on their own.

What are your water quality measurements (e.g. ph, salinity)?

I am running a 180 Reef. mainly SPS

SG 1.0264
PH 8.3
Trites0Trates0
Amonia 0
Calc 410
Alk 3.0

Hmm. Great figures on your tank. Still, reducing your salinity can deal with the ich issue, along with other nasties. 1.0264 is at the high end of normal, at least for aquaria.

Do read up on this, and then see what a weeklong transition to 1.019 followed by a few weeks at this level does for your fish.

Erik

For a reduced to salinity to have any effect on ich it must be below 1.011. Anything from 1.011 on up is survivable for ich, especially any salinity high enough for your corals and other inverts to survive.

Agree with above.