slo motion 125 set up

[tom reilly]

Learning a lot from this site and have come up with a few more questions.
Does a UV sterilizer help with ick? In 25 years raising cichlids I dealt with ick once.
It seems a lot more of an issue with saltwater.

We recently installed a water softener. Should RO/DI unit go after or is it needed with softener?
Our water comes from a limestone aquifer. Chlorine and Flouride is added. Ph is around 7.8.
LFS guy says use dechlor and cycle tank with DR Tims or equal.
Thanks in advance.
Tom R

 

[Tankr75]

Hey,
im fairly new but a UV sterilizer only helps with the free swimming parasite not the ones currently attached to the fish. and the RODI can go after the softener. I have mine under my kitchen sink and we have a water softener. also its best to use RODI water instead of having to purchase extra chemicals to try and treat the water. The RODI will take everything out of the water and be PH neutral. And if you are in a hurry you can cycle with DR Tims. I have used Bio-Spira and had success with it never used any others. Hope this helps.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

U.V. does help to prevent opportunistic organisms from becoming to numerous for the fish to fight off. Often the organisms go water born looking for a new host and then the U.V. helps to take them out by outright killing them or preventing them from propagating in higher numbers (birth control if you will). The trick is to make sure you have 45,000 micro watts per second kill rate or higher. Look the TMC U.V. Units and read their information on proper use. It can help in many situations. That said a good quarantine system before introduction of new fish may save you display tank inhabitants. Food for thought.

 

[tom reilly]

Am going to start with dry rock and sand and will be in no hurry with the cycling.
Am ordering euipment and such as budget allows.
I have the 36 watt UV sterilizer from set up I had with 4 forty gal breeders on a common wet dry system.
Have had very few probes with cichlids and pick over the years. Is it that much more common with salt water fish?
Again thanks in advance for your help.

 

[tom reilly]

Ick ,hate spell correct.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Without getting into to much there are organisms that live on the fish (both fresh and salt) that present like ich but are not. They are known to cause mortality rates up to 80% in aquaculture. They are commensal until the fish experiances stress and then can become pathogenic and attack the fish. U.V. is a great benefit in these cases. In any case the U.V. can prevent the numbers of organisms from reaching higher density levels that threaten the health of the fish. In sytsems where fish are comming and going on a regular basis we have seen loss rates as high as 30% drop to 1%-5% after proper filtration and U.V. are in place. Experiance is a great teacher and we choose to learn or ignore the lessons. Have a great day.