UV Sterilisation

[Guinness]

Anyone uses UV Sterilisation as part of their set up? Been considering this ......

Would be interested in hearing about personal experiences with this.

[Achilles Tang]

Used it before when I was a newbie. No difference to my tank on hindsight. I consider UV strerilisation unworkable for reef tanks, unless the surface volume is very small, no substrate and you have a few UV tubes running to really kill free-floating parasites.

[Tanzy]

Does lab experience count?

If it does, then the aquarium UV sterilizers are a waste of money.

[Tanggy]

Not sure bout the rest, but I got one to combat a marine ich outbreak. All my fish have since recovered except one without any medication, my powder blue still got a bit but has been surviving a month with ich. I also notice a change in the water quality, the water is clearer then it use to be. I am also using a UV for my planted tank, the water was bit blur but the day after I put in the UV the water became crystal clear.

But there is one thing I found out, putting it at the return pump doesn't work, too high flow. I only got results after connecting it to a new pump rated at 300lt/hr. If the water flow is too fast, the UV is not effective at all. I am using a 11watt philips UV tube. I read somewhere that the flow rate should be 10-20 gallon/hr per watt of UV. From what I think it is a useful tool as a prevention rather then a cure. It can aid a system but not cure it. It clears the water cos it alter the DNA of free floating alage, bacteria if setup correctly.

Does lab experience count?

Not sure what lab experience you mean, but it is a known fact that UV light if applied correctly alter DNA (Why you think we can get cancel where expose to too much UV rediation).

But there is a down side, the setup must be place correctly. at the return or it will kill alot of beneficial bacteria as well, it does not discriminate.

[Guinness]

Thanks to all who have replied. More opinions from those who have used it will continue to be welcomed. I am still procrastinating on this UV thing.

All this brings me to another topic.... UV in our 'blue actinics'. How safe are they?

[Tanzy]

The water treatment provided by the aquarium UV tube is insufficient to kill parasites or bacteria to a significant extent. There isn't enough strength of UV radiation and the passage time is too short. Not to mention that the water layer around the UV source is too thick.

To kill 50% of E. coli, you need at least 350 microW.s/cm2 using a commercial strerilizer, whereas I estimate that a 30W aquarium sterilizer at best offers 120 microW.s/cm2. It will take more energy or longer exposure to kill parasites which are larger than bacteria and take into account the suspended particulates and ions there are in seawater.

If you have seen those sterilizers at Coralfarm then you know how big they have to be to be effective. It's not that big because they have a larger volume of water to treat but because you need sufficient exposure to kill the parasites. To deal with more volume, they use more UV units. Compare the units you get from LFS with the ones you see at Coralfarm and you can estimate how effective or ineffective the aquarium units are.

[acce]

from my experience i think it is really useful. My fishes used to have torn fins (not that type from fighting) but since i installed the UV. Dun have this problem anymore. So.....

[Crab]

I've an UV 15watt tube on ordinary light fixture. This is placed on top of sump. Water are crystal clear and lessor algae. Guess this setup has longer contact time compared to commercial UV unit.

[terryansimon]

are you sure? UV light kills everything outright, and having it expose. hmm. wouldn't it kill you too?

[Acanthurus pyroferus]

I've an UV 15watt tube on ordinary light fixture.  This is placed on top of sump.  Water are crystal clear and lessor algae.  Guess this setup has longer contact time compared to commercial UV unit.

whoa... U.V. light exposed on ordinary light fixture? Should be encased in a casing though. Be careful of your eyes bro

[Crab]

whoa... U.V. light exposed on ordinary light fixture? Should be encased in a casing though. Be careful of your eyes bro

so far I'm ok. just had a slight sun-burn squatting beside the sump previously. now i always try to switch off the uv whenever i access the sump.

[ai[k²]wan]

brother remove it remove it.. u might get skin cancer without knowing it..you know light reflects off the water surface as well? u might be harming ur family members.

tanzy talked about coralfarm.. so i wanna say dat the fishes there are really healthy man. their quarantine room is excellent and woot

[Crab]

wan,Dec 1 2003, 12:24 PM]brother remove it remove it.. u might get skin cancer without knowing it..you know light reflects off the water surface as well? u might be harming ur family members.

tanzy talked about coralfarm.. so i wanna say dat the fishes there are really healthy man. their quarantine room is excellent and woot

Thanks for the concern, bro.

Just wondering, isn't outdoor sunlight contain UV? And I've seen exposed UV (facing the ceiling) in public toilet. Pac Mar also did that. Furthermore its only 15watts. I used to install one PL 38watts!!

[terryansimon]

it contains UV rays yes. but not in super concentrated amounts like your bulb. you do have an ozone layer up there to help diffuse a bit of UV rays and you don't bear the grunt of it.

[dradttg]

I am using a UV Sterlizer.

So far my fishes have not encountered any diseases apart from the usual ich.

I am not sure if it is the UV strerlizer or because I have been feeding garlic. Another point to note is that I get my fishes from reliable source.

[Guinness]

Sheesh... forgot about this thread...

I am using a blue actinic flourescent tube, it is not in any casing. Am i endangering myself?

[roidan]

not sure if this works..but here is the chart....

[weileong]

If add 2 units of this turbo-twist sure very power

I'm going to put mine online later then monitor the ORP liao.

[tynnie]

Just got a UV sterilizer..wondering wats the best way to install it..Mine's a 3ft with sump..Would appreciate if u could share some info!thanks

[weileong]

I install it via my chiller's outlet and return back to main tank.

Will have it's own flow adjusted to abt 290 g/h when I redo all my piping (in progress).

[FuEl]

I dun believe in a UV sterilizer in a reef tank. Maybe yes in a FOWLR tank for prevention of diseases. In reef tanks it would just kill off any beneficial zooplankton that might be in your water. Zooplankton is necessary for most corals. Just that we are unable to provide enough amounts. Installing a UV would easily make the amount of zooplankton really insignificant.