Thinking about buying a UV Sterilizers?

[nphotik]

Hello all,

Does anyone have an opinion on UV Sterilizers? How well do they work? Do you have one? What would you recommend for a 90 gal tank with Fish and live rock? How well do they work against fighting or preventing diseases? Before I buy one I want to know if it will be worth the money. My Naso Tang just died and want to make sure that the rest of my fish areand stay healthy.

[Crued]

if you want one, let me know. i have a brand new one that i didn't use in my system due to lack of space.

[ostrow]

I absolutely swear by them in my FW tanks. I got one for my reef after I lost my first to juvenile Atlantic Blue tangs to no known reason. The 3rd is doing fine. I have no idea whether the UV is responsible. But given the obvious impact on my f/w tanks I run on my reef.

Now, I get away with a 9W turbo-twist on my 75. When I bump to a 150 with another 125 or so between fuge/sump and maybe frag, then I don't know if I'll pop for a 25W or not. But maybe...

[Rkthepainter]

you wont regret it....

[Rod Buehler]

my take on UV. It kills indiscriminately, and if you're a ddep sandbed guy, definately not a good idea.

UV Kills what ever passes through them including all of the spawns of teh microcritters that we need to keep our sandbeds functioning properly. without those critters, you will end up bare bottom.

If you are after the sterile approach with bare bottom tanks, UV isnt all that bad, but I prefer the natural methods.

UV and parrasites.. who convinces the parasites to jump off of the fish and swim through the sterilizer?

[ostrow]

Rod: the parasites do that when they reproduce, or try to spread to other fish. Very few beneficial animals end up running through a UV, they are crawling in the sand or on the rocks, and the few that do make a tasty fried treat for the fish. But bacteria and parasites do often reside in the water column, and UV can keep them under control.

[Rod Buehler]

Hi Joel, lets say we disagree on UVs and I dont really have anything to add other than stating again that UV kills indiscriminately.

I am seeing a backward trend in the hobby.. before deep sand beds and more natural methods, people were using the sterile techniques (UV, ozone, bare bottoms and very nutrient poor systems). They worked OK, but many people starteded experimenting with natural methods and had good success. Most of the people that I talk to that have been in the hobby for years and have seen the changes from crushed coral/undergravel filters to bare bottom serile tanks and then to natural methods, are sticking to the natural methods.. They have been through the changes, and most are not going back. (some are but not many)
Most of the people that are yanking their DSBs are people that started the hobby after DSBs became the trend and have never tried bare bottom. Maybe they never seeded their bed properly.. maybe they killed all their critters with gobies or stars, or UV or ozone.
Either way.. there is no 1 correct way to run a reef.. Some like the sterile method, some prefer the natural method. If you want to run UV on a system, by all means, do so. I was just giving my take on UV.

[ostrow]

I hear you. I definitely like the DSB, and think your brief history is exactly on the mark!

All I mean was, you can have the DSB and fuge and have wildly growing and stable critter populations while running UV to zap bacteria and parasites. There are people who don't understand UV, too, and it is important to reinforce that it only kills things that are in the water column. In that sense, UV does discriminate. 'Tis all I meant really.

But in this hobby, YMMV rules the day, no doubt!

[Rod Buehler]

:D