Should I Cut Off The UV Sterilizer?

[reeftankdude]

Had a bacterial bloom from adding to much beneficial bacteria. The UVS made the water super clear. I did a few water changes after the clear up. Should I keep the UVS going? Is the UVS removing things from the water that my aqurium needs to be healthy? Thanks all

 

[lapin]

The bacteria you want lives on surfaces. Rock sand ect. The UV will help you get rid of free floating things you might not want.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Had a bacterial bloom from adding to much beneficial bacteria. The UVS made the water super clear. I did a few water changes after the clear up. Should I keep the UVS going? Is the UVS removing things from the water that my aqurium needs to be healthy? Thanks all

A lot of people aren't very smart and they think that clear water is the most important thing in the world. You should know a secret....there are millions of healthy bacteria cells in the water that the coral eat

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

The bacteria you want lives on surfaces. Rock sand ect. The UV will help you get rid of free floating things you might not want.

It will kill healthy bacteria in the water that corals eat.

 

[lapin]

Corals consume waste from fish. The waste has some it bacteria in it, but prob not a lot. I would not worry about the UV removing coral food.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Corals consume waste from fish. The waste has some it bacteria in it, but prob not a lot. I would not worry about the UV removing coral food.

Do you know what bacterioplankton is?

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Corals consume waste from fish. The waste has some it bacteria in it, but prob not a lot. I would not worry about the UV removing coral food.

Not quite correct...corals consume DOM from fish waste such as nitrate and phosphate which are not bacteria.

 

[Saltydog22]

Had a bacterial bloom from adding to much beneficial bacteria. The UVS made the water super clear. I did a few water changes after the clear up. Should I keep the UVS going? Is the UVS removing things from the water that my aqurium needs to be healthy? Thanks all

i would not use them

 

[lapin]

Not quite correct...corals consume DOM from fish waste such as nitrate and phosphate which are not bacteria.

Do they seperate the poop (waste) from the nitrate and phos before its consumed?

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Do they seperate the poop (waste) form the nitrate and phos before its consumed

Nitrate and phosphates are compounds which are contained in poop...what is your concern? It's broken down into it's chemical makeup.

 

[SilvermistInc]

Yikes. The amount of misinformation in this post is disturbing.

Hey op, tons of successful reefers run a UV 24/7 with no problem. You'll be fine.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Yikes. The amount of misinformation in this post is disturbing.

Hey op, tons of successful reefers run a UV 24/7 with no problem. You'll be fine.

Which misinformation specifically?

 

[lapin]

Nitrate and phosphates are compounds which are contained in poop...what is your concern? It's broken down into it's chemical makeup.

I was wondering that if in fact they didnt consume the poop how they were able to get the nutrients out of it?

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I was wondering that if in fact they didnt consume the poop how they were able to get the nutrients out of it?

It's dissolved into the water....I'm curious about what misinformation the other guy thinks is being spread

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Yikes. The amount of misinformation in this post is disturbing.

Hey op, tons of successful reefers run a UV 24/7 with no problem. You'll be fine.

Honestly just curious what misinformation you were referring to...

 

[hart24601]

The only normal downside people experience is just the increased power consumption unless running a cheap unit that breaks down. Many jaw dropping tanks run them, however you can always turn it off and see how the tank responds.

i personally have run them to combat dino outbreaks and using alkatronic and later a trident I noticed no alk demand changes with the uv on or off indicating to me, at least on my systems, no impact on coral growth - if there was I would see either increased or decreased demand when the uv was started or discontinued.

Here are 1 year growth pics from one system running uv.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I'm not the type of guy to believe my way is the only way and you do have nice coral growth. I just see the whole coral holobiont as an unbelievably intricate one and since we do know for a fact that bacterioplankton is consumed by corals in the wild there is almost certainly a use for these tiny organisms evolution has been developing though the relationship whether we are aware of it or not. I personally prefer to keep everything as close as possible to natural but this isn't me were talking about.

 

[DJF]

I personally would never run a tank without UV. There are way more positives than negatives. Agree with previous post that the main negative is the added cost of running a light 24x7. It sterilizes only what runs thru it- nothing else. Who knows how many outbreaks it has saved me from. My fish are healthier and I’ve had no problems with lack of bacteria. They serve a fundamental purpose in all my tanks. If cost is not a factor- I say keep it online and enjoy cleaning your glass less and maybe never experiencing dinos.

 

[hart24601]

I'm not the type of guy to believe my way is the only way and you do have nice coral growth. I just see the whole coral holobiont as an unbelievably intricate one and since we do know for a fact that bacterioplankton is consumed by corals in the wild there is almost certainly a use for these tiny organisms evolution has been developing though the relationship whether we are aware of it or not. I personally prefer to keep everything as close as possible to natural but this isn't me were talking about.

It gets even more confounding since our systems are about as unnatural as possible, even if we don’t like to admit it, a closed volume of 100g (give or take) sitting miles, sometimes thousands of miles, from the ocean that we power with electricity for water movement and artificial light. The micro and macroscopic diversity and quantity in our systems vs the reef varies so dramatically and even one tank to another it becomes difficult to define hard lines on what is good or bad and a good gauge in some situations/equipment is simply the experience of reefers over decades. While a few observations are simply anecdotal when those observations are repeated hundreds or thousands of times over many years one can draw reasonable conclusions.

In this case of UV, while some exceptions exist, many systems benefit from running uv with added cost and potentially heat being the only noticed downsides with years of use.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

It gets even more confounding since our systems are about as unnatural as possible, even if we don’t like to admit it, a closed volume of 100g (give or take) sitting miles, sometimes thousands of miles, from the ocean that we power with electricity for water movement and artificial light. The micro and macroscopic diversity and quantity in our systems vs the reef varies so dramatically and even one tank to another it becomes difficult to define hard lines on what is good or bad and a good gauge in some situations/equipment is simply the experience of reefers over decades. While a few observations are simply anecdotal when those observations are repeated hundreds or thousands of times over many years one can draw reasonable conclusions.

In this case of UV, while some exceptions exist, many systems benefit from running uv with added cost and potentially heat being the only noticed downsides with years of use.

Of course our tanks will always be very different from a natural reef...there's just no way it can't be. However I'm not so sure the fauna ever fully adjusts to the differences and the larger they are the probably more disruptive when it comes to their life processes after billions of years of evolution have molded them one way. BTW, I'm just sharing my opinion not saying anything your doing is wrong