UV Sterilizers

Hi everyone.
Was wondering about UV sterilizers , how big for a 70 gal grow out tank and do I need them on my breeding tanks ?Was also wondering what brand to buy?
Thanks Chris

they are good. The trick is to make sure the flow rate is not too high. UVs all have flow rates they are designed for. I have mine attached to the canister filter which is slower than its recommended flow rate. so its even more effective.

In general you get what you pay for. I payed $160 for my good ones. The other option is to have the UV built into the filter.

I dont use them on my breeding tanks. I would suggest at least a 9 watt UV on a 70 gal.

Thanks for the advise
Chris

Doug wrote:

they are good. The trick is to make sure the flow rate is not too high. UVs all have flow rates they are designed for. I have mine attached to the canister filter which is slower than its recommended flow rate. so its even more effective.

In general you get what you pay for. I payed $160 for my good ones. The other option is to have the UV built into the filter.

I dont use them on my breeding tanks. I would suggest at least a 9 watt UV on a 70 gal.

doug
i was thinking of getting uv sterilizer can you please let me know how you attached it to your filter was it on the inlet or outlet pipe

thanks

ahh, excellent question. There is considerable debate about placing inline UVs on the inlet or outlet side. I have mine on the outlet side but here are the reasons.

Inlet side
PRO
-UV hits water before going into filter meaning canisters do not become a breeding ground for parasites
-less pressure reducing issues on joins etc
CON
-they get really dirty really quickly reducing the effectivness of the light


Outlet side
PRO
- Basically never needs cleaning as the water is already filtered
- any baby fish/shrimp that get sucked into the filter can still live in the canister without ever passing the fatal UV
- good bacteria can get to the filter media without passing the UV light, enabling quick recolonisation after mini-cycles etc

CON
- Cansiter can harbour parasites (tho this is not such an issue as they cant get out and will eventually die off without a host)
- can be more difficult to access
- higher pressure means you have to be careful with your seals (made that mistake before...nice wet patch on the carpet )


As i said, i have mine on the outlet side as im a bit lazy when it comes to cleaning haha.

All of the canisters with inbuilt UVs have them on the inlet side as its most practical for their design.

Hope that helps

I don't particularly like these unless you have a lot of sump space without any plecos in it. You'll be removing all the algae that naturally grows in the water. Unless your trying to solve other problems, I'd leave it out.

why would you want algae growing in the water? that just clouds the water turning it green and horrible. it does nothing to stop algae growing on the surface of things which the bristlenose and other plecos eat, it just stops the water going green as well as stopping illnesses and parasites. granted if you have these problems then quite often there is a larger issue at hand but still it serves as a front line defence against some of the most common aquarium issues.

Few of my tanks are "show" tanks but even so, the only color in the water is in my blackwater tanks. I will often leave a few tanks empty of algae eaters so that it builds up for a lucky group to have a feast or for a new wild pleco I'm worried is not eating what I give them. Enabling the UV inhibits the algae growth and buildup considerably even though I can see no difference in the cloudiness of the water. This suggests to me that the waterborne algae does play a role in the buildup of surface algae. I'm no algae expert though.

There's no doubt that the UV will help remove bacteria and parasites that pass through it but many of them won't. This leaves you turning to other solutions when there is a problem making it an expensive toy, and worse, gives hobbyists a false sense of security. Even the manufacturers will tell you that it should not be a stand-alone solution for removing harmful bacteria and parasites. Also, as you mentioned earlier, there are beneficial bacteria that you will kill using the UV sterilizer.

Even for a larger setup their usefulness is as a supplementary solution to bacteria or parasite problem. Does this justify the cost for the general hobbyist? How long have we been successfully keeping fish without them? I'm afraid that the UV technology is less useful in the aquarium industry than the manufacturers and retailers want people to believe. Use the money for another fish tank!

For people who are thinking about getting their first UV sterilizer, think about why you're thinking about that. Are you trying to solve a problem? Are you trying to create the best environment for your fish? Are they highly advertized on all the retail websites?

Just wanting people to think about what their real needs are.

To be fair, my UV did find a home in my quarantine setup. I do like it there.

its acutally a very good point there!

They are expensive and you do get what you pay for, the cheap ones are not worth the box they come in IMO.

I guess you do need to weigh up the options and the cost to you. I have hundres of $$$ of fish in my display and was having issues with whitespot coming from my local water source so that was a big motivator for me, $160 for a UV or loose lots of fish to whitespot, or pay the constant money for treatments.

I def use one in my growout tank as a safeguard as there is often over $1000 of fish in there and i would hate to lose them over something that a $160 investment could have stoped.

On the other hand, the average hobiest needs to consider the cost and gain from one. $160 worth of UV on a $100 tank with $20 worth of fish...might not be worth it.