UV Sterilizer - useful at all?

tkh

tkh

New member
So... as the title says, how useful do people feel a UV light sterilizer truly is? I've read up, and heard various sides to it - that it helps, that it kills bacteria indiscriminately (good and bad), that it doesn't hurt, that it can't possibly sterilize everything due to the flow going through it, and so is pointless...

What do people here think, and how many people are actually using one?
 
Great question. I'd also like to know. I'm running uv on a reef system, but have always run it. So I don't know it it is helping or hurting.
 
Bump! I know people here have an opinion on this, I don't need it to be "right" :)

I'll start I suppose.... From what I've read, it does feel superfluous. I also had one as part of the adopted tank I've acquired, and still had a problem with: 1) Crypto (ich) 2) Plenty of nuisance algae 3) cyano. Now - I know that UV is not a cure for any of the above, and perhaps it has helped it from being as full-blown of an outbreak as it could have been. Hard to say, but since ultimately I'd still be fighting all of that with or without a UV, why not just not have one... ? Maybe it has also prevented other nasties, not sure.

Now... What do you think?
 
I run uv its not a 100 percent effective but keeps it in check so fish have a chance to fight it off it also depends on flow threw it kinda like a chiller slower flow more effective but also can have to much uv if its a reef gotta find a medium i run 36w on a 75 gal on my return pump so runs through it to fast to kill evertthing but kills enough
 
There are positive results from using a UV, how ever it's the wattage & flow that makes a difference. First off, UV filter is used to control single celled algae. We really should not be having the "Green water" in our reef system, that's a bigger issue, but on the other hand UV is very beneficial if you have too many fish & to keep parasite free stage in check & also keeps the water clear.
To see a benefit of UV you have to have at least 36W + with 750GPH.
I run a 55W UV with 1200GPH & find it very beneficial.
 
its kinda dumb, the majority of algae in our tanks spread surface to adjacent surface, eliminating effectiveness. Also pods eat those little floatys, and you want pods therefore you want what they eat (among other things the single cell floaters which are invisible to us) so id say its a waste of time. Good buy if you have a heavy stocked goldfish tank etc fw stuff like that.
 
OK I am in

So I have UV on my reef and my frag tank. They are off unless I feel "something" is going on. Algae blooms, sick fish, Coral acting up. 99.9% of the time it is off because it kills everything

I do run ozone also if I feel "something" is going on. I only have one unit and it is on my display, but I move it as needed.
 
Uv is great and in my mind a must for a fish only. As far as a reef Tank goes NO. Kills too many beneficial organisms. Just my two cents. Hey you askew
 
i would never run a reef with out one again my tank is crystal clear and have tons of pods the uv is very effective on disease in the tank. It all depends on how u set up u tank and fuge the people whocsay its waste of time kills everything either never used one or were the ones who set it up wrong for there system. Probably same idiots that say u cant ever put coral in a tank thats been treated with copper well i know first hand u can even the finicky sps . U can read internet and books but its all bs till u try for u self . I been doing this hobby to long to listen to any body telling me it wont work unless they tried first hand
 
I agree with Joe. The only thing that UV kills ,is what pass through it,which is mostly algae spores and parasites that are in water column. Yes,it will kill occasional pod if it gets there, but most bacteria and pods are on rock surface not in water column. I did set up UV on my reef couple of weeks ago, mainly to reduce chance of parasites in my tank. Unfortunately in my case I just don't have the space to set up a QT tank,so I figured UV will not hurt. I know it doesn't kill everything but it helps to control free swimming parasites and algae. After two weeks my water is crystal clear no no sight of ich. It is important to have strong enough bulb and not too much flow going through it.My set up consists of 36W and about 350gph flow.
 
Thank you all for the input - it sounds like a pretty debatable subject... While I am now more convinced that it could have a positive benefit, if any... I am also like the "keep it simple" philosphy.. So I will likely take mine out of my loop. Well, that, and it stopped working for some reason, even after changing the bulb. My guess is the transformer...
 
I have a bigger one maybe 4 foot long that i ran for years (like 20 years ago) ...it takes 4 of the 40 watt bulbs.
well i never replaced the bulbs and its been offline for like 10 years or so...my tank doesnt seem to be hurting..
I see these being more useful on qt tanks and for retailers than for reef tanks, personally
 
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